THE  WORDS 
FROM  AND  TO  THE  GROSS 


ARTHUR  C.  A.  HALL 
BISHOP  OF  VERMONT 


THE  WORDS 
FROM  AND  TO  THE  CROSS 

/iDeMtations 

FOR  HOLY   WEEK  AND  GOOD  FRIDAY 


— BY- 
TEE    RT.    REV.  A.  C.  A.  HALL,  D.D., 

\l 
Bishop  of  Vermont. 


MILWAUKEE  : 

THE   YOUNG  CHURCHMAN  CO. 


COPYRIGHT,  1891,  BY 
J^MES    POTT    &    CO. 


LOAN  STACK 


PEEFAOE. 


THE  Meditations  in  this  book  were  given  in  the 
Mission  Church  of  S.  John  the  Evangelist,  Boston  ; 
those  on  the  words  spoken  by  our  Lord  from  the 
Cross,  at  the  Three  Hours'  Service  on  Good  Friday, 
1890 ;  those  on  the  words  spoken  to  or  of  Him  on 
the  Cross,  on  the  other  days  of  Holy  Week,  1888. 

The  Author  ventures  to  think  that  in  both 
courses  of  Meditations  a  somewhat  wider  range  of 
thought  and  application  is  taken  than  is  usual  in 
such  addresses,  while  at  the  same  time  an  harmoni- 
ous view  of  the  Passion  in  some  of  its  many  aspects 
is  preserved. 

MISSION  HOUSE  OF  S.  JOHN  EVANGELIST,  BOSTON. 
EPIPHANY,  1891. 


070 


This  introductory  address   refers  to  Good  Friday 
Meditations  on  page  53. 


CONTENTS. 


HOLY  WEEK  MEDITATIONS. 
The  Words  Addressed  to  our  Lord  on  the  Cross. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY 7 

I.  THE  WORD  OF  ACCUSATION 11 

II.  THE  WORD  OF  DERISION  AND  SCOFFING 21 

III.  THE  WORD  OF  PRAYER 29 

IV.  THE  WORD  OF  MISUNDERSTANDING 38 

V.  THE  WORD  OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT 46 

GOOD  FRIDAY   MEDITATIONS. 
The  Seven  Words  Spoken  by  our  Lord  from  the  Cross. 

FIRST  WORD:  THE  TRUE  REGARD  OF  SINNERS 53 

SECOND  WORD  :  OF  PENITENTS 56 

THIRD  WORD  :  OF  FRIENDS 60 

FOURTH  WORD:  OF  SIN 63 

FIFTH  WORD  :  OF  PAIN 67 

SIXTH  WORD  :  OF  WORK 71 

SEYENTH  WORD  :  GOD'S  REGARD  OF  MAN  AND  MAN'S 

OF  GOD  . .  75 


INTKODUCTOKY. 


1.  IN  a  hymn  of  Dr.  Neale's  for  All  Saints,1  writ- 
ten shortly  before  his  death,  he  turns  to  the  differ- 
ent choirs  of  the  Saints — the  Martyrs,  Confessors, 
Virgins,  Doctors — asking  of  each  the  means  by 
which  they  attained  their  sanctity  and  fulfilled  their 
several  vocations.  The  reply  of  each  group  is  of 
course,  in  effect,  Through  Christ  that  strengthened 
us  ;  He  was  in  us  the  hope  of  glory,  the  power  of 
victory.  The  Doctors,  the  great  champions  of  the 
Faith,  are  begged  to  tell  us  how  the  lore  to  gain,  by 
which  they  established  the  Truth,  and  crushed  down 
heresy  amain.  This  is  their  answer : 

"  In  the  Cross  we  found  our  pulpit, 

In  the  Seven  Great  Words  our  lore  ; 

Dying  gift  of  dying  Master, 
Which  once  uttered  all  was  o'er ; 

Pillars  seven  of  sevenfold  wisdom, 
Sion's  safeguard  evermore." 

1 "  Christ's  own  martyrs,  valiant  cohort,"  in  Original 
Hymns  and  Sequences,  by  Eev.  J.  M.  Neale,  D.D.  (Hayes.) 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

It  is  somewhat  in  this  light  that  I  would  ask  you 
this  Good  Friday  to  listen  to  the  Words  of  our 
Lord  from  the  Cross,  as  declaring  the  true  regard — 
God's  and  man's — of  the  chief  objects  that  we  have 
to  meet  in  the  world,  the  things  and  persons  with 
which  we  have  to  do :  Sinners,  Penitents,  Friends, 
Sin,  Pain,  Work.  The  true  regard  of  each  of  these 
we  will  try  to  learn,  viewed  from  the  stand-point  of 
the  Cross. 

2.  God's  view  and  man's,  I  say.  Jesus  is  God 
and  man.  Ever  from  the  moment  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, as  He  lay  cradled  all  lowly  in  Bethlehem,  or  in 
Mary's  arms,  or  stretched  on  the  hard  bed  of  the 
Cross,  we  worship  Him  as  true  God  and  true  Man. 
He  is  the  Word  made  flesh,  God  of  the  essence  of  the 
Father,  revealed  in  human  flesh,  showing  forth  the 
Divine  perfections,  translating  them  into  language — 
the  language  of  action — intelligible  to  us,  declaring 
and  making  known  the  invisible  God.1  And  Man 
He  is  of  the  substance  of  His  mother,  the  ideal,  pat- 
tern man,  the  true  Representative  of  Humanity. 
Our  Lord  as  the  Incarnate  Word,  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  Man,  is  the  revelation  at  once  of  what 
God  is,  and  of  what  man,  made  in  God's  image, 
should  be.  The  centurion's  exclamation  declared  the 

1  S.  John  i.  14 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


truth,  a  fuller  truth  than  he  recognized,  Truly  this 
was  God's  Son,  a  Eighteous  Man.1  From  Him  we 
would  learn,  and  from  His  utterances  on  the  Cross 
unspeakably  solemn.  All  bare  witness  to  His  gra- 
cious words.  None  ever  spake  like  this  Man. 

3.  For  what  purpose  do  we  listen  to  these  Words  ? 
That  we  may  arm  ourselves  with  the  same  mind. 
Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speak- 
eth.  We  would  learn  His  mind.  We  gather  round 
the  Cross  not  for  the  stirring  of  idle  sentiment, 
nor  to  offer  sympathy.  We  would  not  listen,  and 
smite  our  breasts  and  return.  We  would  render  the 
homage  of  our  obedience.  We  would  hear  these 
Words,  and  keep  them,  and  do  them.  Not  do  the 
same  things.  We  do  not  expect  to  be  in  the  same 
circumstances  ;  we  are  never  likely  to  be  exposed  to 
bodily  torture.  But  we  would  arm  ourselves  with 
the  same  mind  that  was  in  Christ  Jesus.2 

1  S.  Mark  xv.  39  ;  S.  Luke  xxiii.  47. 

2  1  S.  Pet.  iv.  1. 


HOLY  WEEK  MEDITATIONS. 

The  Words  Spoken  to,  or  of,  our  Lord  on  the  Cross. 


THE  WORD  OF  ACCUSATION. 

"  This  is  Jesus  the  King  of  the  Jews." — S.  MATTHEW 
xxvii.  37. 

As  on  Good  Friday  we  are  accustomed  to  listen 
to  and  ponder  on  the  Words  spoken  by  our  Blessed 
Lord/rom  the  Cross,  so  during  this  Holy  Week  let 
us  meditate  on  the  Words  spoken  to  or  of  our  Lord 
as  He  hangs  upon  the  Cross.  Five  such  sayings 
there  are,  each  distinct  from  the  others,  each  ut- 
tered by  different  persons  or  classes  of  persons. 

1.  The  Word  of  Accusation — the  Title  written  by 
Pilate  :  "  This  is  Jesus  the  King  of  the  Jews." 

2.  The  Word  of  Taunt  and   Scoffing— uttered  by 
the  Chief  Priests  :     "  He  saved  others  ;  himself  he 
cannot  save.     If  he  be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  him 
now  come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe 
him.    He  trusted  in  God ;  let  him  deliver  him  now, 


12  WORDS    TO   THE   CROSS. 

if  he  will  have  him :  for  he  said,  I  am  the  Son  of 
God."  ' 

3.  The  Word  of  Prayer — uttered  by  the  penitent 
malefactor,  who  in  the  midst  of  all  that  pain  and 
ignominy  was  able  to  see  a  real  royalty  in  his  Fel- 
low-Sufferer, and  prays,  "  Lord,  remember  me  when 
thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom."  2 

4.  The  Word  of  Misunderstanding — spoken  by  the 
Koman  soldiers,  when  our  Lord  uttered  that  bitter 
cry,  telling  of  His  anguish  and  desolation,    "  Eli, 
Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ? "  and  the  Roman  soldiers, 
ignorant  of  the  Hebrew  language,  caught  at  the  first 
syllables  and  thought  that  as  a  superstitious  Jew  He 
was  invoking  Elijah  :    "  This  man  calleth  for  Elias." 3 

5.  The  Word  of  Acknowledgment  —  called   forth 
from  the  centurion,  who  watched  by  the  Cross,  and 
saw  the  moral  majesty  of  this  Sufferer,  His  patience 
and  meekness,  and  saw,  too,  the  awful  portents  which 
accompanied  His  death,  when  the  sun  hid  his  face, 
and  the  earthquake  rent   the  rocks :    "  Truly   this 
was  the  Son  of  God." 4     Indeed  the  claim  He  made 
was  right  and  true.     He  was  a  supernatural  person, 
God's  representative. 

We  will  meditate  each  day  on  one  of  these  five 
sayings,  and  will  try,  with  God's  help,  to  think  of 
what  they  meant  as  expressing  the  thoughts  of  those 
who  stood  round  the  Cross,  and  to  hear  the'ir  echo 
now  in  those  who  gaze  on  that  wondrous  mystery. 


1  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  42,  43.  2  S.  Luke  xxiii.  42. 

3  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  47.  4  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  54. 


THE   WORD    OF   ACCUSATION.  13 

First,  the  Word  of  Accusation,  the  Title  placed 
over  His  Head  upon  the  Cross  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  King  of  the  Jews."  It  was  customary  that  the 
charges  against  a  criminal,  the  ground  on  which  he 
was  condemned,  should  be  written  out  in  brief  on  a 
tablet  which  was  hung  round  his  neck  as  he  was  led 
to  execution.  Pilate  only  followed  out  this  plan. 
This  was  the  charge  the  Jews  and  Chief  Priests 
had  brought  before  the  Governor,  when  they 
dragged  Jesus  to  the  judgment-seat.  He  says,  He 
is  Messiah.  At  first  they  had  spoken  vaguely  of 
His  being  "  a  malefactor,"  but  Pilate  demanded, 
What  definite  charge  do  you  bring?  l  /'  We  found 
him  (they  say)  perverting  the  nation,  and  forbid- 
ding to  give  tribute  to  Caesar,  saying  that  he  him- 
self is  Christ,  a  King." 2  Afterwards  they  mention 
the  religious  charge  of  blasphemy.  "  We  have  a 
law,  and  by  our  law  he  ought  to  die,  because  he 
made  himself  the  Son  of  God."!  And  Pilate  was 
the  more  afraid  when  he  heard  that  claim ;  it  fitted 
in  with  the  dream  of  his  wife,  with  the  majesty  and 
moral  grandeur  which  he  had  already  recognized  in 
the  Man  before  him  ;  but  officially  he  could  take  no 
notice  of  it.  The  civil  charge  is  pressed.  This  was 
Pilate's  business.  "  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thou  art 
not  Csesar's  friend  :  whosoever  maketh  himself  a  king 
speaketh  against  Csesar."  4  The  Jews  threatened  to 
appeal  to  Csesar,  and  that  the  Governor  could  not 

1  S.  John  xviii.  29.  2  S.  Luke  xxiii.  2. 

3  S.  John  xix.  7.  4  S.  John  xix.  12. 


14  WOKDS   TO  THE   CROSS. 

face.  Pilate  seeks  favor  with  his  imperial  master, 
and  he  dare  not  incur  suspicion  of  unfaithfulness  to 
him.  So  he  condemns  Jesus  to  death  as  a  rebel,  a 
false  king,  though  he  knew  that  He  was  innocent. 
Then,  partly  in  mockery  and  partly  to  have  his  re- 
venge on  the  hated  Jews  and  their  leaders,  he  writes 
the  accusation,  "This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews."  In 
mingled  scorn  and  pity  he  had  asked  Jesus,  "  Art 
thou  the  King  of  the  Jews?"  This  harmless,  de- 
serted man,  this  enthusiastic  fanatic — a  pretty  king 
indeed !  a  fine  rival  to  my  imperial  master !  But 
the  Jews  have  accused  Him  of  claiming  to  be  a 
king,  and  Pilate  will  show  his  contempt  for  their 
nation  by  calling  this  harmless  enthusiast  their 
king. 

I.  Think  of  the  injustice  of  the  accusation.  Our 
Lord  had  repeatedly  refused  to  be  made  a  king. 

After  the  miraculous  feeding  of  the  five  thousand 
the  people  would  have  taken  Him  by  force  and 
made  Him  a  king  in  the  enthusiasm  stirred  by  the 
miracle  in  the  multitudes  on  their  way  to  celebrate 
the  Paschal  feast.1  They  would  have  put  Him  at 
the  head  of  that  great  caravan,  and  gone  on  to 
Jerusalem,  prepared  to  fight  for  Him  against  the 
Roman  usurper.  He  had  sent  away  His  disciples 
lest  they  too  should  be  carried  away  by  this  desire 
of  the  multitude,  and  Himself  had  retired  to  the 
mountain-top  to  spend  the  night  in  prayer.  It  was 
the  disappointment  of  the  hopes  the  people  had 

1  S.  John  vi.  15. 


THE   WOKD   OF   ACCUSATION.  15 

formed  on  Palm  Sunday,  when  they  welcomed  Him 
to  the  city  with  Hosannas,  as  a  king  coming  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,1  that  had  brought  about  the 
change  to  the  shout  of  Good  Friday,  "Crucify 
Him  ! "  They  had  thought,  those  Galilean  peas- 
ants, that  now  with  Him  for  their  leader  it  would  be 
an  opportunity  to  make  headway  against  the  power 
of  Eome,  and  when  He  failed  to  rise  up  to  the  dig- 
nity they  would  thrust  upon  Him,  then  they  turned 
against  Him.2  He  told  them  of  His  spiritual  king- 
dom, but  for  such  a  kingdom  they  had  no  desire,  and 
in  their  chagrin  they  left  Him  in  the  hands  of  His 
enemies,  the  Chief  Priests,  and  allowed  them  to  ac- 
cuse Him  of  making  a  claim  for  not  making  which 
He  had  forfeited  their  allegiance. 

How  great  the  injustice  with  which  He  was 
treated !  How  bitter  His  pain  and  disappoint- 
ment !  And  how  true  His  sympathy  with  all  who 
suffer  like  injustice  !  O  suffering  soul !  misunder- 
stood in  thy  family,  maligned  among  friends,  look 
to  Jesus  and  learn  like  Him  to  commit  thyself  in 
calmness  to  Him  that  judgeth  righteously.8  Be 
content  to  be  unknown,  or  mis-known — unknown  to 
earth,  if  well  known  to  Heaven.  All  that  is  intended 
for  insult  shall  redound  to  thy  true  glory,  even  as  it 
was  with  Him.  He  is  executed  on  the  public  high- 
way, that  all  may  read  the  Title,  and  know  Who  it  is 

1  S.  Mark  xi.  9,  10 ;  S.  Luke  xx.  38. 

9  See  this  change  of  popular  feeling  wonderfully  delineated 
in  Ben-Hur,  book  viii. ,  chapters  v.  and  vi. 
3 1  S.  Pet.  ii.  23. 


16  WORDS   TO   THE   CKOSS. 

that  suffers,  "  The  King  of  the  Jews."  So  shall  thy 
character  be  vindicated.  Thy  meekness  and  patience 
shall  conform  thee  to  thy  Lord  and  make  thee  dear 
to  Him.  And  in  the  day  of  His  manifestation  with 
His  Saints  thou  shalt  be  found  near  Him. 

Let  us  be  prepared  for  the  misunderstandings  to 
which  Christ's  Church  and  religion  may  be  exposed. 
Men  would  use  them  to  help  on  some  worldly 
scheme,  or  turn  them  to  account  for  some  political 
purpose ;  but  shrink  back  from  simple  obedience  to 
the  law  of  life  which  He  lays  down,  from  following 
in  His  steps,  saying,  "  We  will  not  have  this  Man  to 
reign  over  us." 

Our  Lord  does  indeed  come  to  establish  a  king- 
dom far  greater  than  that  His  enemies  imagined. 
He  came  to  instil  principles  that  would  render  the 
tyranny  of  Rome  harmless.  He  came  to  reign  over 
hearts  in  love,  a  rule  far  grander  than  that  of  exter- 
nal force.  A  King  He  is,  a  King  Whose  service  is 
perfect  freedom  ;  a  King  Who  frees  His  subjects 
from  the  bondage  of  sin,  the  tyranny  of  Satan,  the 
oppression  of  the  World. 

II.  So  consider  further  the  truth  of  the  accusation. 
The  Chief  Priests  beg  that  the  sentence  may  be  al- 
tered. Write  not,  they  say  to  Pilate,  "  The  King  of 
the  Jews ;  but  that  he  said,  I  am  King  of  the  Jews." 
But  Pilate  would  not  be  dictated  to.  Insolently  and 
tersely  he  replies,  "What  I  have  written  I  have 
written."  l  Not  a  word  will  I  change.  You  asked 


THE   WORD    OF   ACCUSATION.  17 

me  to  condemn  Him  as  the  King  of  the  Jews,  and 
so  I  have  written.  Another  concerned  in  our  Lord's 
condemnation  had  unconsciously  prophesied,  Caia- 
phas  the  High  Priest,  when  he  said  it  was  expedient 
that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people.1  Pilate  now 
likewise  utters  an  unconscious  prophecy  when  he 
inscribes  the  Title.  He  wrote  truly,  "  This  is  the 
King  of  the  Jews." 

The  Angel  of  the  Annunciation  had  declared,  "He 
shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the 
Highest :  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him 
the  throne  of  his  father  David."3  Mary's  Child 
was  worshipped  by  Eastern  sages  as  well  as  by 
the  shepherds  of  Bethlehem.  That  tender  Plant 
was  indeed  the  Branch  (the  new  Shoot — which  is 
the  meaning  of  "  Nazarene  ")  growing  up  in  obscur- 
ity but  destined  to  exercise  a  world-wide  dominion  ; 3 
before  Whose  throne  at  the  last  all  nations  shall  be 
gathered  to  receive  their  final  doom.  Meanwhile 
He  exercises  a  mighty  sway  over  hearts  which  He 
draws  unto  Himself.*  "King  of  the  Jews"  He  is, 
the  heir  of  David's  throne,  but  not  only  their  King. 
He  comes  to  establish  His  universal  Church,  in 
which  all  nations  shall  find  their  home,  and  each 
fulfil  its  own  destiny.  Of  this  Pilate  uncon- 
sciously prophesied  when  he  wrote  the  Title  in 
three  languages,  that  all  might  read  it.  It  was 
written  in  Hebrew,  that  the  people  might  under- 


1  S.  John  xi.  49-52  ;  xviii.  14.  2  S.  Luke  i.  32. 

3  S.  Matt.  ii.  23  ;  Isa.  xi.  1 ;  liii.  2  ;  Zecli.  iii.  8. 
2 


18  WORDS    TO   THE    CEOSS. 

stand  ;  in  Latin,  the  language  of  the  Roman  court 
and  of  the  soldiers  ;  and  in  Greek,  for  the  benefit  of 
foreigners  present  for  the  Passover.  It  was  intend- 
ed for  mockery,  but  it  told  of  the  universal  charac- 
ter of  Christ's  kingdom.  The  City  of  God  is  built 
at  the  confluence  of  three  streams  —  of  Hebrew 
prophecy,  of  Greek  literature  and  philosophy,  of 
Roman  organization  and  empire. 

In  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  is  the  Title  written, 
that  all  nations  may  recognize  their  interest  in  the 
Crucified  King.  In  Holy  Week  we  pray  to  Mary's 
Child,  the  Seed  of  Abraham,  that  He  would  have 
mercy  on  His  own  favored  people  and  on  the  Gentile 
nations  who  know  Him  not ;  that  He  would  remove 
all  blindness  and  hardness  of  heart,  and  that  He 
would  bring  back  to  the  way  of  truth  all  those  who 
live  in  darkness  and  error  ;  that  He,  our  Shepherd 
King,  would  fetch  all  wanderers  home  to  His  flock, 
that  they  may  be  saved  among  His  true  Israelites. 

III.  Once  more  think  of  the  spiritual  character  of 
the  King  and  of  His  Kingdom.  He  was  rejected  by 
His  subjects,  not  because  He  was  unworthy  of  His 
kingdom  but  because  they  were  unworthy  of  Him. 
Pilate  acknowledged  Him  as  a  King,  and  we  as  we 
gaze  upon  the  moral  glory  of  His  Passion  recognize 
One  Who  is  indeed  King  of  men,"  Holiest  among  the 
mighty,  mightiest  among  the  holy."  Yes,  we  bow 
before  His  Cross,  because  we  recognize  the  Lord  of 
glory  there  reigning  on  His  throne.  The  moral 
glory,  the  grace  and  truth  He  there  exhibits  are 
such  as  indeed  belong  to  the  Only-begotten  of  the 


THE   WORD    OF   ACCUSATION.  19 

Father.1  "We  pray  Thee,  blessed  Jesu,  to  exercise 
Thy  sovereign  power  over  our  hearts.  To  Thee  we 
would  bend  our  intellect,  that  in  Thee  we  may  attain 
true  knowledge  and  wisdom  ;  to  Thee  we  yield  our 
affections,  that  from  Thee  we  may  learn  true  love  ; 
to  Thee  we  offer  our  will,  that  it  may  beat  in  har- 
mony with  Thine.  Think  of  the  supernatural  char- 
acter of  the  kingdom  that  the  Crucified  inaugurates. 
His  throne,  the  Cross  ;  His  sceptre ,  a  reed  ;  His 
Crown,  of  thorns.  He  was  teaching  man  the  vanity 
of  worldly  wealth  and  honor  ;  that  man's  dignity 
consists  in  what  he  is,  not  in  what  he  has  ;  that  his 
greatness  and  worth  is  to  be  estimated  not  by  the 
opinion  of  those  round  about,  but  by  his  own 
strength  of  character.  Jesus  showed  Himself  the 
true  and  perfect  Man,  to  Whom  the  greatest  and  the 
lowest  can  do  most  loving  homage.  If  we  are  to  be 
subjects  of  His  Kingdom  we  must  learn  its  standards. 
Our  nobility  must  be  such  as  belongs  to  the  inner 
man  ;  our  treasure  such  as  moth  and  rust  cannot 
corrupt  ;  our  glory  not  in  worldly  honor  and  human 
appreciation,  but  such  as  God,  Who  seeth  in  secret 
and  trieth  the  heart,  will  bestow. 

So  let  us  meditate  on  the   Title   on   the  Cross, 
considering — 

(1)  The   injustice   of   the    accusation,  and    learn 
humbly  and  meekly  to  bear  misunderstanding  and 
misrepresentation  : 

(2)  The  truth  unconsciously  proclaimed  in  what 

1  S.  John  i.  14  ;  1  Cor.  ii.  8. 


20  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

Pilate  wrote — How  indeed  He  is  the  King,  and  we 
are  to  bring  all  the  faculties  of  our  nature  to  bow 
before  Him,  and  by  our  prayers,  our  alms,  and  our 
influence  to  bring  others  to  acknowledge  His  King- 
dom : 

(3)  And  ask  that  we  may  know  the  true  standard 
and  measures  of  His  Kingdom,  and  so  may  judge 
with  true  and  righteous  judgment. 

Psalm  ii. 


H. 

THE  WOED  OF  DERISION  AND  SCOFFING. 

u  He  saved  others  ;  himself  he  cannot  save.  If  he  be  the 
King  of  Israel,  let  him  now  come  down  from  the  cross,  and 
we  will  believe  him.  He  trusted  in  God  ;  let  him  deliver 
him  now,  if  he  will  have  him  :  for  he  said,  I  am  the  Son  of 
God."— S.  MATTHEW  xxvii.  39-43. 

YESTERDAY  we  thought  of  the  Title,  the  Accusation 
prepared  by  Pilate  and  affixed  to  the  Cross.  It 
marked  out  the  charge  for  which  sentence  was 
passed  upon  Jesus,  the  charge  of  sedition,  forbid- 
ding to  give  tribute  to  Caesar,  claiming  Himself  to 
be  the  King  of  the  Jews.  That  was  the  only  charge 
of  which  the  Eoman  Governor  could  take  cognis- 
ance, and  sentence  on  it  was  extorted  from  him  by 
the  Chief  Priests.  Now  we  come  to  the  second  Say- 
ing addressed  to  our  Lord  upon  the  Cross.  All 
these  Sayings  are  representative  Sayings,  and  all  are 
spoken  by  representative  persons  ;  each  expressing 
a  different  relation  to  our  Lord.  Pilate  is  the  rep- 
resentative of  Worldly  Power,  and  speaks  of  Him 
as  a  usurping  King,  a  feeble  rival  to  his  imperial 
master.  He  points  in  mockery  to  the  Nazarene, 
"  Behold  the  King  of  the  Jews." 

The  taunt  uttered  by  the  Chief  Priests  is  of  a  dif- 
ferent character.  "  Come  down  from  the  Cross,  and 
we  will  believe.  He  saved  others  :  himself  he  can- 


22  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

not  save.  He  trusted  in  God  :  let  him  deliver  him 
now  if  he  will  have  him  ;  for  he  said,  I  am  the  Son 
of  God."  They  mocked  Him  as  a  pretender  to  Mes- 
sianic dignity.  It  was  on  the  religious  charge  of 
blasphemy  that  they  had  determined  to  put  Him  to 
death.  They  trumped  up  the  political  charge  to 
satisfy  Pilate,  but  that  was  not  the  charge  on  which 
they  had  condemned  Him  in  their  own  council. 
The  High  Priest  said,  I  adjure  thee  by  the  living 
God,  that  thou  tell  us  whether  thou  be  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God.  Jesus  replied,  Thou  hast  said.  Here- 
after shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the  right 
hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven. 
Then  the  High  Priest,  pretending  that  his  feelings 
were  shocked  and  outraged,  rent  his  clothes,  and 
said,  What  need  of  further  witnesses  ?  '  It  was  on 
the  charge  of  blasphemy,  for  unwarranted  religious 
claims  that  He  was  condemned,  and  for  that  they 
mock  and  jeer  and  jibe  at  Him  hanging  on  the 
Cross.  Mark,  it  was  not  the  people  but  the  Chief 
Priests  that  mocked.  Those  that  passed  by  indeed 
wagged  their  heads  and  reviled  Him  ;  but  they  were 
put  up  to  it  by  the  Chief  Priests.  They  had  gone 
among  the  crowd  at  Pilate's  judgment-seat  and 
whispered  to  them  to  demand  Barabbas  instead  of 
Jesus,  and  now  others  take  up  the  cry  they  lead.  We 
are  to  think  of  these  taunts  as  they  sounded  in  His 
ears,  and  as  they  expressed  the  mind  of  those  who 
uttered  them,  and  as  they  find  their  echo  in  all  ages. 

1  S.  Matt.  xxvi.  63-66. 


WORD    OF   DERISION   AND    SCOFFING.       23 

I.  Think,  then,  of  the  grief  of  our  Lord  as  He  heard 
them,  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  the  speakers  were 
His  own  official  representatives.  The  taunt  would 
have  been  a  comparatively  little  thing  if  said  by  the 
Boman  soldiers  or  by  Pilate,  but  from  those  whom 
He  had  placed  in  authority  it  was  a  most  bitter 
pain  to  His  tender  Heart.  "He  came  unto  his  own, 
and  his  own  received  him  not."  He  had  foretold 
this  detail  of  His  Passion  to  His  disciples  as  they 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  where  He  must  suffer.  "The 
Son  of  man  shall  be  betrayed  unto  the  chief  priests 
and  unto  the  scribes,  and  they  shall  condemn  him  to 
death,  and  shall  deliver  Him  to  the  Gentiles  to 
mock,  and  to  scourge,  and  to  crucify  him."  2  Yes, 
His  own  representatives,  who  should  have  prepared 
the  people  to  welcome  Him  by  expounding  the 
prophecies,  and  showing  their  fulfilment  in  Him, 
they  stirred  up  the  people  to  demand  His  death  ; 
they  mocked  Him  ! 

When  we  receive  no  sympathy  from  those  with 
whom  we  live,  and  with  whom  we  would  fain  be  at 
peace,  or  when  those  whose  allies  and  instruments 
we  would  be  fail  to  understand  us,  or  when  the  pur- 
ity of  our  motives  is  questioned — we  suffer  the  like 
grief.  The  heart  is  sore  just  in  proportion  to  its 
own  generosity.  And  what  was  the  pain  and  grief 
to  Jesus  when  thus  reviled  by  His  own  ministerial 
representatives  !  Think  of  His  being  charged  with 
blasphemy  against  His  Father.  That  was  a  far 

1  S.  John  i.  11.  S.  Matt.  xx.  18,  19. 


24  WOKDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

deeper  grief  than  the  accusation  of  being  a  mock 
king.  That  would  have  been  mere  folly.  Pilate 
thought  of  Him  as  a  harmless  enthusiast,  a  dreamer. 
But  by  the  Chief  Priests  He  is  condemned  on  a 
charge  of  heresy.  He,  the  Witness  to  the  Truth, 
Who  referred  all  He  did  to  the  Father,  and  said  He 
came  only  to  do  His  will ' — that  He  should  be  ac- 
cused of  usurping  unlawfully  and  illegitimately  the 
position  that  belonged  to  Him  !  That  He  should  be 
scorned  as  a  Samaritan,  as  possessed  by  an  evil  spir- 
it, He  Who  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil ! a 

And  oh  !  the  pain  still  greater  to  the  Heart  of 
Jesus  to  know  that  all  the  people  were  shaken  in 
their  belief  in  His  innocence,  when  they  saw  that  af- 
ter these  taunts  He  was  left  to  die,  shown  (as  they 
thought)  to  be  rejected  of  God. 

Ah  !  let  us  think  of  the  grief  of  these  revilings, 
remembering  from  whom  they  came,  and  we  will 
take  consolation  when  we  are  charged  with  disloyal- 
ty to  the  Church  we  love,  to  the  principles  we  hold 
most  clear.  Indeed,  Blessed  Lord,  there  is  no  grief 
in  which  Thou  canst  not  extend  to  us  Thy  sym- 
pathy. 

II.  Go  on  to  consider  the  taunt  itself.  See  how  it 
really  pointed  to  the  manifestation  of  our  Lord's 
glory.  It  was  because  their  eyes  were  blinded,  even 
though  they  held  the  position  of  religious  teachers, 
that  they  recognized  not  His  glory  when  hanging 

1  S.  John  v.  19,  30 ;  vi.  38  ;  xii.  49. 

2  S  John  viii.  48 ;  1  S.  John  iii.  8. 


WORD    OF   DEKISION   A1STD    SCOFFING.        25 

on  the  Cross.     These  secularized  ecclesiastics  were 
judging  according  to  their  own  heart. 

Blessed  Lord,  if  Thou  in  justice  hadst  hearkened 
to  that  challenge,  and  come  down  from  the  Cross  to 
manifest  Thy  power,  our  salvation  would  have  been 
lost.  When  Thou  didst  save  others,  Thou  wouldest, 
not  save  Thyself.  Thine  enemies  say,  "Thou  canst 
not ;  "  and  we  say,  "  Thou  wouldest  not."  It  was  by 
Thy  self-sacrifice  that  Thou  didst  teach  men  a  disin- 
terested love.  It  was  then  Thou  didst  teach  us  true, 
generous  love  for  others.  Thou  didst  save  us,  be- 
cause Thou  wert  willing  to  lay  down  Thine  own  life. 
By  Thine  obedience  unto  death  Thou  didst  atone 
for  man's  disobedience,  and  thus  didst  rescue  us. 
Thou  didst  show  Thy  Divine  Sonship  by  not  com- 
ing down  from  the  Cross.  An  earthly  Messiah  would 
have  sought  to  make  some  external  manifestation  of 
his  power,  but  in  Thy  heroic  fortitude  and  enduring 
patience  Thou  didst  show  a  splendor  of  moral  char- 
acter far  surpassing  the  worldly  conception  of  those 
who  mocked  Thee. 

Satan  in  the  Wilderness  approached  our  Lord 
with  the  like  temptation.  "  If  thou  be  the  Son  of 
God,  command  that  these  stones  be  made  bread."  ' 
And  because  He  was  the  Son  of  God  He  would  ac- 
complish the  fast,  waiting  upon  His  Father ;  He 
would  not  satisfy  the  craving  of  the  lower  nature, 
and  in  the  abstinence  from  any  such  gratification 
He  would  manifest  His  Divine  Sonship. 

1  S.  Matt.  iv.  3. 


26  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

Even  so  "with  the  Church  in  every  age  :  men  mock 
and  sneer  at  her  poverty,  her  want  of  organization 
and  earthly  power  ;  they  ask,  Can  this  be  the  Church 
of  the  living  God — with  all  these  divisions  and  anom- 
alies, these  spots  and  blots  and  stains  ?  But  God 
never  promised  on  earth  a  Church  without  spot,  or 
wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing.  This  is  to  be  the  glo- 
rious condition  of  the  Church  at  the  last.  Here  she 
is  proved  to  be  really  the  Bride  of  Christ  by  shar- 
ing His  lot,  for  better  and  for  worse.1  She  is  shown 
to  be  His  not  by  being  endowed  with  great  earthly 
gifts  but  by  her  likeness  to  her  Lord.  Founded  011 
a  Eock,  but  planted  in  the  sea  ;  upheld  in  life, 
though  crucified  in  weakness,  God  delivers  not  His 
Church  from  suffering,  so  as  to  ward  it  off,  but  He 
delivers  His  people  out  of  suffering,  so  that  we  are 
brought  forth  perfected  thereby. 

III.  Think  once  more  how  the  taunt  is  continually 
repeated  by  us  and  to  us. 

1.  We  so  often  think  that  if  only  we  are  trying  to 
be  on  God's  side  we  have  a  right  to  be  exempted  from 
crosses.  At  any  rate  from  spiritual  temptations, 
from  dryness  in  prayer,  from  evil  imaginations. 
Why  30  ?  Is  not  this  the  same  sort  of  conception 
that  led  the  Chief  Priests  to  say,  "  If  he  be  the  Son  of 
God,  let  God  deliver  him  now,  if  he  will  have  him." 
God's  love  does  not  exempt  us,  any  more  than  it  did 
Christ,  from  trials  and  sorrow.  "  Great  are  the 
troubles  of  the  righteous :  but  the  Lord  delivereth 

'Eph.  v.  27;  Rev.  xix.  .7,  8. 


WORD    OF   DEKISION   AND    SCOFFING.       27 

him  out  of  all."  1  God  does  not  exempt  us  now  in 
a  fallen  world  from  trials.  He  shows  His  care  in 
supporting  us  in  trials.  The  shadow  of  the  Cross 
we  must  expect  to  fall  on  those  nearest  and  dearest 
to  Him.  Mary,  His  beloved  Mother,  stands  by  the 
Cross,  the  representative  of  the  Church  ;  and  those 
who  aspire  to  high  places  in  His  Kingdom  are  asked 
if  they  can  drink  of  the  cup  of  which  He  has  drunk. 
I  will  not  expect,  then,, in  taking  any  fresh  onward 
step  to  be  exempt  from  trials.  I  will  nerve  myself 
to  meet  any  sorrow,  knowing  that  I  shall  be  sup- 
ported in  it,  that  He  will  not  suffer  any  temptation 
beyond  my  strength  to  try  me.  He  Who  has  con- 
quered for  me  will  conquer  in  me. 

2.  And  the  same  taunt  we  may  think  of  as  ad- 
dressed to  us  by  the  worldly  spirit  calling  us  to 
come  down  from  the  Cross.  It  may  be  in  the  secu- 
lar newspaper  of  the  day,  or  by  the  voice  of  a  friend  : 
"  Come  down,  show  thyself  to  be  the  child  of  God 
by  enjoying  greater  liberty.  God's  child  surely  will 
not  be  cramped  in  thought  by  the  narrow  limits  of 
creeds,  in  life  by  rule,  mortification,  or  restraint. 
Claim  your  portion  of  the  good  things  of  the  world  ; 
enjoy  life,  allow  free  play  to  all  the  faculties  of 
your  nature.'1  So  speaks  the  worldly  spirit.  We 
reply,  with  Jesus  :  "  Because  I  am  God's  Son,  and 
have  a  higher  life,  therefore  I  am  comparatively  in- 
different to  merely  worldly  pleasure  and  honor.  I 
am  ready  to  sacrifice  that  which  may  be  attractive, 

1  Ps.  xxxiv.  19. 


28  WOEDS   TO   THE   CKOSS. 

especially  those  things  I  know  to  be  dangerous  to 
my  higher  interests,  lest  I  should  lose  my  firm  grasp 
on  what  is  my  true  inheritance.  Because  I  am  God's 
child  my  heart  is  set  on  things  above,  and  I  am  in- 
different to  the  joys  and  sorrows  that  belong  to  this 
world.  I  am  bent  on  so  passing  through  things 
temporal  that  I  lose  not  the  things  eternal.  Be- 
cause I  am  God's  child  I  am  prepared  to  follow 
along  the  Eoyal  Road  the  Master  has  trodden  be- 
fore. I  hear  His  voice,  If  thou  wilt  be  My  disciple, 
take  up  thy  cross  ;  that  is  the  path  that  is  marked 
by  My  footprints,  that  is  the  narrow  way  that  lead- 
eth  to  Life  eternal. 

Psalm  Ixix. 


III. 

THE  WORD   OF  PRAYER. 

"Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  King- 
dom."— S.  LUKE  xxiii.  42. 

WHAT  a  blessed  contrast  it  is  to  turn  from  the 
Words  addressed  to  our  Lord  on  the  Cross  which 
we  have  already  considered  to  the  Word  we  have  to 
consider  now  !  We  have  thought  of  Pilate's  mock- 
ing sentence,  "  This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews  ;  "  and 
of  the  words  of  taunt  and  sneer  with  which  the 
Chief  Priests  and  Rulers,  secularized  ecclesiastics, 
reviled  our  Lord  as  a  false  Messiah — "  He  trusted 
in  God  :  let  him  deliver  him  now  if  he  will  have 
him.'*  S.  Matthew  and  S.  Mark  tell  us  that  at  the 
first  the  malefactors  who  were  crucified  with  Him 
reviled  Him  also.1  S.  Luke,  giving  a  fuller  account, 
tells  us  that  after  a  while  one  of  the  malefactors 
turned  to  our  Lord  with  this  prayer,  and  to  that 
one  we  will  now  direct  our  thoughts.2 

The  malefactors  had  eagerly  seized  the  stupefying 
draught  which  our  Lord  refused.  He  would  not  dull 
His  consciousness  in  the  struggle  against  sin,  but 
would  keep  His  powers  to  the  very  end.  But  they 
are  eager  to  save  themselves  all  the  pain  they  can. 


1  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  44  ;  S.   Mark  xv.  32. 

2  S.  Luke  xxiii.  39-43. 


30  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

When  the  nails  were  driven  into  their  hands  they 
could  hardly  feel  the  pain  from  stupefaction  ;  but 
after  a  while  they,  in  half-consciousness — just  as  one 
coining  out  of  ether  hears  half  in  dream  and  half  in 
reality — catch  snatches  of  what  is  said  around  the 
Cross,  and  they  take  up  the  jeers  of  the  Chief  Priests 
and  {t  cast  the  same  in  His  teeth." 

We  are  not  to  think  of  them  as  being  simple 
"  thieves  ; "  robbers  is  the  right  translation.  They 
were  wild,  bold  outlaws,  such  as  infested  the  Gali- 
lean hills,  and  who  with  their  robbery  joined  a 
rough  patriotism,  ready  to  rise  up  in  revolt  against 
the  foreign  power  of  Home.  They  were  members  of 
such  a  band  as  that  of  which  Barabbas  had  been 
chief,  their  hand  against  every  man  and  every  man's 
hand  against  them.  Now  they  have  come  to  execu- 
tion and  are  going  to  brave  it  out  to  the  last.  But 
one  of  them,  struck  by  such  a  sight  as  he  had  never 
seen  before,  is  moved.  He  had  seen,  perhaps,  our 
Lord  in  that  imperturbable  meekness  before  His  ac- 
cusers that  had  moved  even  Pilate. 1  He  had  heard 
Pilate  declare  that  he  found  no  fault  in  Him.2  But 
the  robbers  had  not  then  taken  much  account  of 
Jesus,  bent  on  learning  their  own  fate.  But  this 
one  had  walked  by  our  Lord's  side  on  the  road  to 
Calvary,  and  had  heard  him  speak  to  the  daughters 
of  Jerusalem,  bidding  them  weep  not  for  Him  but 
for  that  which  was  coming  upon  the  doomed  city.3 

1  S.  Mark  xv.  3-5.  2  S.  John  xix.  4. 

3  S.  Luke  xxiii.  27-32. 


THE   WOED    OF   PKAYER.  31 

He  had  seen  Jesus  refuse  the  stupefying  drug,  and 
had  heard  His  prayer  for  His  murderers,  and  then 
he  had  become  stupefied  himself  and  heard  no  more. 
Now  recovering  consciousness,  all  he  had  seen  be- 
fore passes  through  his  mind.  He  turns  to  gaze 
upon  his  fellow  -  sufferer  and  sees  a  wondrous 
moral  majesty  beaming  from  His  face  amid  all  the 
pain  and  humiliation.  What  manner  of  man  is  this  ? 
— he  thinks — what  if  this  should  be  the  Messiah ! 
His  companion  utters  some  special  word  of  reviling, 
such  as  he  before  had  joined  in,  and  he  turns 
to  him,  rebuking  him.  Dost  not  thou  fear  God, 
seeing  thou  art  in  the  same  condemnation  ?  and  we 
indeed  justly  ;  for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our 
deeds  :  but  this  man  hath  done  nothing  amiss. 
Pilate  said  so,  and  since  then  he  has  done  nothing ! 
Then  he  turned  to  our  Lord,  with  only  a  dim  con- 
ception of  Whom  he  was  addressing.  Perhaps  some 
old  teaching  of  the  synagogue  service  comes  before 
him,  some  scripture  prophecy,  such  as  Isaiah's  de- 
scription of  the  Messiah,  as  one  who  will  come  to 
heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the 
captives  and  the  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to 
set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised.1  Was  not  this 
the  kind  of  work  this  Man  had  been  doing  ?  He  had 
looked  indeed  for  an  earthly  Messiah,  but  what 
matters  now  any  earthly  consideration  ?  The  idea 
of  a  spiritual  deliverance  comes  before  him,  he  has 
a  vision  of  a  spiritual  kingdom.  He  prays,  Lord, 

1  Isa.  Ixi.  1  ;  S.  Luke  iv.  16-21. 


32  WORDS   TO   THE   CKOSS. 

remember  me  when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  king- 
dom. 

I.  Think  of  the  lesson  of  the  contrast.  The  very 
publicans  and  harlots  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God  before  the  Chief  Priests  and  Elders.1  There  is 
no  blinding  of  the  eyes  here  through  envy.  The 
Chief  Priests  had  every  tittle  of  evidence  that  this 
poor  outlaw  had.  Pilate  saw  that  they  were  blinded 
with  envy.  They  steeled  and  hardened  their  hearts. 
There  were  moral  obstacles  to  prevent  their  seeing 
the  truth.  They  would  not  take  the  evidence  of 
His  miracles  or  listen  to  His  words.2  They  had  not 
the  right  dispositions.  Consider  the  contrast  be- 
tween this  poor  robber  and  those  who  should  have 
led  the  people.  They  had  studied  the  prophecies, 
and  yet  they  turn  against  Him,  for  the  darkness  of 
their  own  hearts  cannot  receive  Him,  while  evidence 
far  less  than  was  offered  to  them  convinces  the  poor 
outcast.  So  it  is  now.  Some  rich,  favored  nation, 
boastful  of  its  civilization,  really  drawing  its  vitality 
from  the  Christianity  with  which  it  is  surrounded, 
rejects  Christ's  truths,  while  some  poor,  down-trod- 
den race,  acknowledging  its  own  inability  to  rise  up 
to  higher  things,  eagerly  accepts  Him.  He  ever 
comes,  not  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  re- 
pentance. On  the  Cross,  as  always,  it  is  the  rich 
He  sends  empty  away,  but  the  hungry  He  fills  with 
good  things.8  On  the  Cross  He  is  seen  as  the  good 

1 S.  Matt.  xxi.  31.  2  S.  John  v.  36-47  ;  viii.  47. 

3S.  Matt.  ix.  12,  13  ;  S.  Luke  i.  53. 


THE  WORD   OF   PEAYEE.  38 

physician  healing  the  sick,  while  they  that  are  whole 
have  no  need  of  the  physician.  O  blessed  Jesu, 
break  down  within  us  all  pride  and  envy,  all  unwill- 
ingness to  acknowledge  ourselves  mistaken,  to  sub- 
mit to  Thy  holy  will ;  do  away  in  us  with  all  moral 
obstacles  that  bind  and  blind,  that  so  we  may  be 
prepared  to  acknowledge  Thy  truth. 

II.  And  then  think,  too,  how. this  Word  sounded 
in  the  ears  of  our  blessed  Lord.  What  a  refresh- 
ment amid  the  taunts  of  His  enemies  to  hear  this 
prayer — the  faith  dim,  but  the  prayer  very  earnest 
and  sincere — "  Lord,  remember  me."  He  is  making 
an  act  of  faith  according  to  his  opportunities,  making 
the  best  prayer  he  can.  Our  Lord  is  refreshed  and 
consoled.  He  begins  to  see  of  the  travail  of  His 
soul,  and  is  satisfied.1  The  words  come  like  drops 
of  water  to  the  parched  earth.  Now,  lifted  up,  He 
begins  to  draw  all  men  unto  Him.2  His  sweet 
forbearance  conquers.  He  triumphs  in  the  midst  of 
suffering.  Love  conquers  all.  God  had  tried,  if  we 
may  so  say,  by  the*  terrors  of  the  Law  to  subdue 
man,  and  the  Law  had  failed.  He  places  Himself  in 
the  midst  of  fallen  humanity  in  a  condition  of  suf- 
fering to  draw  out  man's  pity,  and  so  He  wins  his 
love.  Think  of  the  consolation  of  Jesus,  and  think 
of  this  as  marking  out  the  law  of  all  Christian  con- 
quest, by  meekness  and  self-sacrifice,  by  forbearance 
rather  than  by  rigorous  reproach,  for  any  who  will 
win  souls  to  truth  and  virtue,  to  Christ  and  God. 

1  Isa.  liii.  11.  2  S.  John  xii.  32. 

3 


34  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

Only  in  His  way  can  we,  can  the  Church,  hope  to 
reproduce  His  victory. 

Ah,  blessed  Jesu !  this  is  the  law  of  Thy  con- 
quest. The  Cross  conquers,  because  the  Cross  is 
the  well  of  love.  We  pray  that  lifted  up  afresh  in 
Passiontide  Thou  wilt  touch  hearts  with  Thy  love. 
Kindle  our  souls  with  true  devotion  ;  renew  the  de- 
votion we  have  felt  in  past  years,  only  let  there  be 
true  devotion  and  less  of  mere  feeling ;  give  us  the 
earnest  desire  to  do  and  bear  for  Thee,  Who  hast 
done  and  borne  so  much  for  us.  And  bless,  we 
pray  Thee,  all  preaching  of  the  Cross  in  foreign 
lands,  and  by  those  who  tell  of  Thy  love  to  the 
heathen.  Speak  through  their  lips  and  draw  all  to 
Thyself.  Draw  the  unbelievers,  the  impenitent,  the 
backsliders,  draw  us  all,  that  we  may  in  truth  "  run 
after  Thee." ' 

III.  Think  of  the  prayer  as  expressing  the  mind 
of  him  who  uttered  it.  The  prayer  of  a  sufferer, 
purified,  softened  by  suffering,  addressed  to  a  suf- 
fering Lord.  It  is  when  life  is  ebbing  out,  when 
earthly  visions  are  fading  away,  that  this  poor  rob- 
ber is  led  to  higher  things.  God  has  shown  him 
the  vanity  of  all  else.  Suffering  is  intended  to  be 
remedial.  God  in  His  compassion  will  accept  even 
the  dregs  of  a  life,  that  He  may  renew  that  life. 
Suffering  is  intended  to  purify  the  vision,  that  as 
the  outward  man  decays  we  may  be  led  to  set  our 
affections  on  those  things  which  cannot  pass  away. 

'Cant,  i.4;  Ps.  cxix.  32. 


THE   WORD    OF   PRAYER.  35 

O  blessed  Jesu,  we  pray  Thee  to  hallow  suffering 
to  all  Thy  people.  Grant  that  they  may  not  be 
hardened,  but  teach  them  to  accept  suffering  with 
right  dispositions,  that  their  hearts  may  be  touched, 
their  lives  sanctified.  Hallow  all  bereavement,  all 
spiritual  trials  and  sorrows.  In  Passiontide  we 
beg  Thee  to  win  souls  to  Thee  through  Thy  suf- 
fering. 

Suffering  is  a  kind  of  sacrament,  requiring  right 
dispositions  in  those  who  receive  it.  In  those  two 
crucified  beside  our  Lord  we  see  the  different  ef- 
fects of  suffering  :  one  is  hardened,  the  other  is  sof- 
tened ;  one  reviles  our  Lord  to  the  end,  the  other 
turns  to  Him  in  penitence  and  prayer.1  Grant 
me,  dear  Lord,  rightly  to  accept  suffering,  and 
then  send  what  Thou  wilt.  Only  purify  me,  and 
grant  that,  dying  with  Thee,  I  may  attain  to  live 
with  Thee. 

The  Word  we  are  considering  was  the  prayer  of  a 
sufferer,  and  addressed  to  a  suffering  Lord,  the 
prayer  the  suffering  Lord  led  him  to  offer.  He  saw 
our  Lord  sharing  his  suffering,  and  so  felt  sure  that 
He  could  sympathize  with  him.  Ah,  blessed  Lord, 
it  is  because  I  can  pray  to  Thee,  "by  Thy  Fasting, 
by  Thy  Temptation,  by  Thine  Agony  and  Bloody 
Sweat,  by  Thy  Cross  and  Passion,  by  Thy  Death  and 
Burial,"  that  I  feel  sure  Thou  canst  understand  me. 
This  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  which  the  In- 
carnation assures  to  me.  I  think  of  God  in  His  own 

1  Comp.  Rev.  ix.  20,  21  ;  xvi.  8-11. 


36  WORDS   TO   THE   CKOSS. 

Divine  Nature,  and  I  feel  a  doubt  if  He,  though  my 
Heavenly  Father,  can  understand  my  pain,  my 
temptations  and  falls.  But  the  Incarnate  Lord  has 
been  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  can  in  all 
points  sympathize  with  and  succor  those  ttiat  are 
tempted.1 

In  visiting  the  sick  and  poor  remember  how  the 
uneducated  and  ignorant  rejoice  to  hear  the  story  of 
the  Lord's  sufferings.  Often  the  eye,  almost  glazed 
in  death,  is  turned  to  the  figure  of  the  Lord  upon 
the  Cross,  and  the  sufferer  is  nerved  to  endure  to 
the  very  end,  knowing  that  the  Lord  Himself  has 
gone  the  same  way  before.  We  are  nerved  to  bear 
the  parting  with  relatives,  as  we  think  of  His  part- 
ing with  His  blessed  Mother ;  nerved  to  bear  spir- 
itual desolation,  as  we  think  of  His  bitter  cry  of 
anguish,  and  remember  the  clouding  of  His  Soul  ; 
enabled  to  commend  our  soul  to  God  as  we  re-echo 
His  last  words,  "Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My 
Spirit." 

So  we  would  take  the  prayer  addressed  to  our 
Lord  on  the  Cross  as  the  prayer  in  which  we  would 
speak  to  Him  now,  and  beg  that,  with  confession  of 
our  sin,  in  true  faith  and  hope  in  Him,  we  may  be 
enabled  at  our  last  hour  to  say,  Lord,  remember  me 
in  Thy  kingdom :  Thy  kingdom  is  set  up  upon  the 
Cross  :  Thou  art  the  King  of  Paradise. 

May  I,  persevering  to  the  end,  in  any  temptation 
or  sorrow,  in  bearing  the  consequences  of  past 

1  Heb.  ii.  18  ;  iv.  15. 


THE   WORD    OF   PRAYER.  37 

sin,  suffer  with  Thee  here,  O  Lord,  that  so  I  may 
reign  with  Thee  hereafter.  May  my  last  hour  be 
hallowed  by  union  with  Thee,  and  so  may  I  be  wel- 
comed into  Thy  kingdom,  which  by  Thy  Cross  and 
precious  Blood  Thou  didst  win  for  us. 

Psalm,   cxxx. 


IV- 

THE  WORD  OF  MISUNDERSTANDING. 

"  Behold,  he  calleth  Elias.  Let  us  see  whether  Elias  will 
come  to  take  him  down." — S.  MARK  xv.  35,  36. 

How  wonderfully  lifelike  is  the  scene  of  the  Cru- 
cifixion as  depicted  by  the  several  Evangelists ! 
How  true  to  his  natural  position  does  each  one  ap- 
pear whose  actions  are  recorded  ! 

Pontius  Pilate,  as  the  Roman  Governor,  takes  cog- 
nizance of  the  political  charge,  and  affixes  the  title 
to  the  cross,  "The  King  of  the  Jews."  The  Chief 
Priests,  as  they  had  charged  Jesus  with  religious 
blasphemy,  taunt  and  mock  Him  as  a  pretended 
Messiah.  The  penitent  robber,  brought  up  as  a 
child  to  attend  the  Synagogue  and  Temple  services, 
had  mingled  with  his  outlawry  and  robbery  dreams 
of  patriotism.  His  mind  is  purified  by  suffering, 
and  as  earthly  visions  fade  away  he  beholds  a  real 
royalty  in  his  Fellow-Sufferer,  and  the  teaching  of 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  long  buried  in  his 
heart  and  mind,  flashes  up  ;  he  feels,  Here  is  One 
indeed  on  whom  the  Spirit  rests,  One  who  has  come 
to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  good  tidings 
to  the  meek,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and 
the  restoring  of  sight  to  the  blind  ;  he  sees  fulfilled 
the  old  description,  he  recognizes  God's  Messiah, 


THE   WORD    OF   MISUNDERSTANDING.      39 

the  spiritual  King  reigning  on  the  Cross,  and  he 
prays,  "  Lord,  remember  me  when  Thou  comest 
into  Thy  kingdom." 

The  Roman  soldiers,  too,  act  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  their  position  and  circumstances.  They 
are  there  simply  on  duty.  They  are  ordered  to. 
watch  by  the  Cross  until  the  end.  They  have  no 
interest  in  the  matter,  and,  brutalized  by  their  fa- 
miliarity with  such  scenes,  they  have  their  dice  to 
wile  away  the  time  while  waiting,  and  the  sour  wine 
they  have  brought  for  their  refreshment.  They 
could  not  be  expected  to  understand  spiritual 
things,  and  so  when  our  Lord  cries  out,  in  the 
words  of  the  twenty-second  Psalm,  "  Eli,  Eli,  lama 
sabachthani  ?  "  (the  very  language  is  strange  to  them, 
they  only  know  a  few  detached  words  of  the  de- 
spised Hebrew  language),  they  not  unnaturally, 
knowing  that  the  Jews  expected  Elijah  to  intervene 
on  their  behalf  in  any  crisis,  that  it  was  supposed 
to  be  his  office  to  conduct  souls  to  Paradise,  think 
that  the  sufferer  is  invoking  the  Prophet.  The  next 
cry  followed  immediately  on  this,  "  I  thirst,"  and  a 
soldier,  moved  with  pity,  dips  a  sponge  in  the  wine, 
and  on  a  reed  of  hyssop  puts  it  to  His  lips.  The 
others  say,  Let  alone,  don't  get  in  the  way,  let  us 
see  if  Elias  will  come  to  help  him.1  The  whole 
scene  is  just  what  we  might  have  expected ;  the  sol- 
diers were  utterly  unable  to  realize  the  meaning  of 

1  S.  Matt    xxvii.  46-49  ;   S,   Mark,  xv.  34-36  ;    S.  John, 
xix.  28,  29. 


40  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

that  cry  to  God ;  they  suppose  that  in  His  agony 
Jesus  calls  for  Elijah. 

I.  Think  of  the  pain  with  which  those  words  rise 
up  in  His  ears,  as  those  for  whom  He  dies  show 
their  inability  to  understand  Him.  It  had  been  so 
all  through  His  life.  "  They  daily  mistake  my 
words."  l  The  Jews  sought  to  entrap  him.2  His 
very  disciples  were  so  slow  to  take  in  His  teaching.3 
Up  to  the  very  last,  while  He  sought  to  teach  the 
great  lesson  of  the  self -abandonment  of  love,  they 
were  quarrelling  about  pre-eminence.4  And  now,  in 
His  last  dying  moments,  those  for  whom  He  was  lay- 
ing down  His  life  misunderstand  Him.  It  is  the 
sorrow  of  one  far  beyond  his  age,  who  towers  above 
his  fellows,  the  sorrow  of  being  thus  misunderstood. 
Think  of  the  loneliness  of  Jesus  on  the  Cross — ex- 
ternal and  internal.  He  is  betrayed  by  one  disciple, 
denied  by  another,  forsaken  by  all.  True,  there  is 
a  little  group  near  the  Cross — Mary,  His  beloved 
Mother,  and  John,  who,  immediately  recovering  him- 
self, had  followed  on  to  the  High  Priest's  palace,  to 
Pilate's  judgment  hall,  to  Calvary,  and  as  a  reward 
of  his  faithfulness  had  received  that  precious  gift, 
the  only  earthly  gift  He  has  to  bestow,  the  care  of 
His  blessed  Mother.  And  Mary  Magdalene  is  there 
with  others,  obliged  to  stand  at  a  distance,  driven 
off  by  the  ribald  jests  and  rude  thrusts  of  the  sol- 

1  Ps.  Ivi.  5.  2  S.  Matt.  xxii.  15. 

3  S.  Luke  xxii.  38  ;  S.  Matt.  xv.  16 ;  S.  John  xiv.  9. 

4  S.  Luke  xxii.  24. 


THE   WOED   OF   MISinNTDEKSTANDHSTG.      41 

diers.  The  Chief  Priests  have  been  reviling  Him, 
but  are  now  departed  to  the  evening  service  in  the 
Temple,  gone  off  to  offer  their  empty  rites  with 
blood-stained  hands,  having  turned  their  backs  on 
the  true  Paschal  Lamb  offered  for  the  sins  of  the 
world.  The  soldiers  only  are  left,  and  they  are  only  t 
waiting  for  all  to  be  over.  Think  of  the  loneliness 
external  and  internal. 

O  blessed  Jesu,  we  would  now  take  our  place  in 
the  company  of  the  faithful  few ;  open  our  eyes  that 
we  may  see,  touch  our  hearts  that  we  may  weep 
with  Mary  Magdalene,  and  enable  us,  like  Thy  dear 
Mother,  to  stand  bravely  by  Thy  Cross.  John  saw 
Thee  with  the  eye  of  faith,  that  could  behold  the 
things  of  God,  saw  Thee  reign  on  the  tree  of  shame 
in  moral  majesty  and  begin  to  draw  all  men  to  Thy- 
self. Grant  us  too  so  to  gaze  in  the  sacred  hours  of 
Thy  Passion ;  give  to  us  the  seeing  eye,  the  listen- 
ing, understanding  heart. 

II.  Think  of  the  soldiers'  Word  of  Misunderstand- 
ing, how  it  is  ever  re-echoed  through  the  ages. 
Jesus  spake  not  simply  to  those  within  ear-shot,  but 
to  every  age  and  every  nation.  We  may  be  sure 
that  the  words  addressed  to  Him  that  are  set  down 
in  the  Gospels  are  representative  words ;  and  as  the 
Word  of  Taunt  and  Scoffing  we  hear  continually 
repeated,  and  pray  that  the  sufferer's  Prayer  to  a 
suffering  Lord  may  be  continually  on  our  lips,  so 
this  too  must  be  a  representative  word.  The 
World  has  no  real  power  of  apprehending  spir- 
itual things.  Spiritual  things  are  spiritually  dis- 


42  WOKDS   TO   THE   CKOSS. 

cerned. 1  The  World  must  misunderstand,  it  has  not 
the  eye  to  see,  or  the  ear  to  hear,  or  the  scales  to  meas- 
ure the  things  of  God.  Spiritual  wisdom  is  foolish- 
ness to  the  natural  man.  It  is  as  if  one  who  was 
color-blind  should  take  upon  himself  to  judge  of  some 
great  painting,  or  one  without  ear  for  music  should 
criticise  the  harmony  of  some  intricate  composition ; 
even  so  the  natural  heart  of  man  is  utterly  incapa- 
ble of  judging  of  the  things  of  God.  Yet  the  World 
continually  tries  to  do  so.  We  presume  to  weigh 
all  things  in  the  finite  scales  of  our  puny  under- 
standing. WTe  lay  down  what  God  ought  to  do ;  we 
determine  what  must  be  the  lot  of  men  in  a  future 
world,  from  what  seems  to  us  more  likely ;  or  we  de- 
nounce the  system  of  sacraments  of  grace  because 
it  is  not  such  as  we  should  have  devised.  We  are 
just  like  the  soldiers  who  had  not  the  spiritual  fac- 
ulties to  comprehend.  Alas !  how  often  we  allow 
ourselves  to  be  disturbed  by  the  World's  want  of  ap- 
preciation. The  World  scoffs  at  asceticism,  at  high 
ideas  of  prayer,  and  calls  men  of  prayer  mere  dream- 
ers and  fanatics — and  we  think  such  things  must  be 
folly  because  the  World  in  its  wisdom  derides  them. 
The  World  in  its  wisdom  knew  not  God.2  There 
is  a  common-sense  of  faith  which  is  clear  to  the  il- 
luminated heart.  There  are  spiritual  truths  equally 
certain  with  those  of  nature,  only  requiring  spirit- 
ual discernment ;  and  shall  we  be  disturbed  because 
an  article  in  a  newspaper,  written  perhaps  by  some 

'ICor.  ii.  14.  2lCor.  i.  21. 


THE   WORD   OF   MISUNDERSTANDING.      43 

one  of  an  indifferent,  if  not  openly  immoral  life,  fails 
to  grasp  the  deep  meaning  of  spiritual  things  ?  Be- 
cause the  libertine  says,  All  will  come  right  in  the 
end,  are  we  going  to  believe  him  instead  of  the 
teaching  of  the  Church  and  Holy  Scripture  ?  What 
the  World  may  say  about  religion  we  may  be  pretty 
sure  is  a  perversion  and  caricature.  Of  this  we  may 
be  quite  sure,  it  is  not  the  truth  of  God  in  its  purity. 
We  will  not  be  guided  in  spiritual  things  by  merely 
worldly  reasoning.  We  will  ask  the  way  of  true 
peace  and  holiness  from  those  who  have  trodden  in 
its  paths.  We  will  ask  concerning  the  things  of 
God  from  those  who  are  His  intimate  and  familiar 
friends.  The  World  must  misunderstand  and  mis- 
represent. From  the  World's  ways  and  the  World's 
opinions  I  appeal  to  the  example  of  Thy  Saints,  O 
Lord,  whom  Thou  hast  filled  with  Thy  gifts  of  light 
and  truth  and  purity. 

HI.  Let  me  think  how  incomprehensible  that  cry 
of  Jesus  must  have  been  to  the  soldiers.  It  was  not 
a  cry  of  despair,  though  of  mighty  anguish  and  in- 
tense suffering,  a  cry  from  Christ  as  Man  and  as 
a  Son  to  God  His  Father.  Alone,  deserted  by  His 
friends,  turned  from  by  those  who  should  have  been 
His  willing  servants,  amid  enemies,  like  "  the  hind 
at  bay,"  J  our  Lord  seems  for  the  time  to  have  lost 
the  consciousness  of  the  Divine  love.  The  darkness 
of  the  earthly  scene  is  a  type  of  the  deeper  darkness 
of  that  clouded  human  Soul  bereft  of  the  conscious- 

1  See  the  title  of  Ps.  xxii. 


44  WORDS   TO   THE   CEOSS. 

ness  of  the  Divine  favor.  After  a  while  the  darkness 
passes  away,  and  He  cries,  in  the  words  of  the 
Psalm,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  didst  Thou  forsake 
Me  ?  "  It  is  no  complaint  but  the  confident  remon- 
strance of  one  whose  trust  is  unshaken.  The  begin- 
ning of  the  Psalrn  is  indeed  a  deep  wail ;  it  ends 
with  triumphant  expression  of  victory. 

Yes,  that  cry  told  of  two  things  that  the  World 
must  ever  misrepresent. 

1.  It  told  of  the  thirst  of  the  soul  for  God.  All 
others  might  have  forsaken  Me,  but  why  didst  Thou 
forsake  Me  ?  Betrayed  by  Judas,  denied  by  Peter, 
mocked  by  the  Chief  Priests,  smitten  by  the  sol- 
diers, I  seem  ensnared  like  a  hind  at  bay.  But  this 
I  could  have  borne,  "  Alone,  yet  not  alone,  because 
the  Father  is  with  Me."  But  oh,  now  when  the 
light  of  Thy  countenance  is  hid  from  me — "My 
soul  is  athirst  for  God,  yea  even  for  the  living  God." 
"Like  as  the  hart  desireth  the  water-brooks,  so 
longeth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God."  l  The  World 
cannot  understand  this.  The  World  thinks  such  ex- 
pressions of  devotion  tell  of  an  unhealthy,  morbid 
sentimentality.  "Don't  indulge  such  thoughts  and 
ideas,"  the  World  says.  "  Do  your  duty  and  then  you 
will  come  to  God,  if  there  is  one,  in  due  time — but 
fellowship  with  God  now  is  only  mysticism."  The 
World  thinks  of  any  soul  seeking  the  Religious  Life, 
it  can  only  be  turning  to  God  because  the  World 
has  failed  ;  she  has  been  crossed  perhaps  in  love, 

1  Ps.  xlii.  1,  2. 


THE   WORD    OF   MISUNDERSTANDING.      45 

and,  weary  and  disappointed,  is  just  calling  for  some 
Elias. 

2.  That  cry  told  of  our  Lord's  thirst  for  God,  and 
of  the  depth  of  penitence  as  He  groaned  under  the 
burden  of  sin  upon  the  Cross,  felt  the  burden  as  He 
alone  could  feel  it.  The  World  does  not  understand 
penitence.  The  World  thinks  it  is  morbid  to  prac- 
tise self-examination.  It  says  :  "  Forget  the  past — 
as  if  God  remembered,  or  cared  to  have  you  remem- 
ber." David  says,  "  My  sin  is  ever  before  me,"  1 
but  that  only  shows  a  diseased  state  of  mind.  The 
World  cannot  understand  contrition,  which  is  the 
form  love  must  take  when  sin  has  come  in  between 
the  soul  and  God.  But  with  John  and  the  blessed 
Mother,  and  those  who  catch  His  Mind  and  repro- 
duce His  Spirit,  let  us  stand  before  the  Cross  and 
gaze.  We  would  seek,  O  blessed  Jesu,  to  compre- 
hend the  meaning  of  what  Thou  doest,  what  Thou 
sayest  and  bearest.  We  would  seek  to  follow  in 
Thy  footsteps  ;  we  acknowledge  Thy  moral  glory  on 
the  tree  of  shame,  and  we  would  humble  ourselves 
in  penitence,  and  seek  to  rise  up  to  that  love,  the 
perfect  example  of  which  Thou  dost  give  to  us. 

Psalm  xxii. 
>Ps.  li.  3. 


V. 
THE  WORD   OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

u  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God." — S.  MATTHEW  xxvii.  54. 

WE  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  last  words 
spoken  to  or  concerning  our  Lord  upon  the  Gross. 
The  Words  spoken  to  Him  or  those  spoken  by  Him 
on  the  Cross  have  an  undying  significance.  They 
are  representative  Words,  expressing  the  different 
attitude  to  our  Lord  of  those  who  uttered  them. 
And  the  last  Word  spoken  of  Him  on  the  Cross  has 
a  close  correspondence  with  the  last  Word  spoken 
by  Him  from  the  Cross.  Both  tell  of  the  vindication 
of  His  glory.  As  the  cloud  rolled  away  which  had 
clouded  His  consciousness  of  the  Father's  love,  there 
was  the  pleading  of  His  Divine  Sonship,  and  in  His 
last  Word  He  claimed  that  Sonship  in  full  confi- 
dence. 

I.  Spoken  to  Him  or  of  Him  there  had  been  the 
sentence  of  Pilate,  the  taunt  of  the  Chief  Priests,  the 
prayer  of  the  malefactor,  the  misunderstanding  of 
the  soldiers,  and  now  there  is  the  confession  of  the 
centurion.  It  is  recorded  by  the  first  three  Evange- 
lists. S.  Mark  tells  us  the  centurion  "  stood  over 
against "  the  Cross.1  He  as  the  officer  was  naturally 
a  man  of  more  intelligence  and  education  than  the 

1  S.  Mark  xv.  39. 


THE   WOED   OF   ACKNOWLEDGMENT.        47 

common  soldiers.  They  had  formed  a  little  knot  by 
themselves,  and  were  distributing  the  garments. 
The  officer  stands  on  one  side  from  them,  and  draws 
near  to  the  Cross.  While  they  were  intent  on  their 
dice  he  watched  more  curiously  and  intently.  He 
caught  the  words  spoken  by  our  Lord.  S.  Mark 
tells  us  that  it  was  the  loud  cry  with  which  our  Lord 
resigned  His  Spirit  into  the  Father's  hands  that 
called  forth  the  centurion's  acknowledgment.1  He 
had  been  impressed  and  awed  by  the  preternatural 
darkness,  when  the  midday  sun  veiled  his  face  at 
this  awful  tragedy — as  the  midnight  heavens  had 
blazed  with  glory  when  the  Angels  announced  the 
Saviour's  Birth. 

And  he  felt  the  earthquake  that  rent  the  rocks 
and  opened  the  graves.2  He  heard  the  loud,  victori- 
ous shout,  telling  of  the  accomplishment  of  His  work, 
"  It  is  finished  !  "  The  prize  is  won,  the  victory 
gained  !  *  And  he  thought,  Never  dying  man  spake 
like  this.  He  had  seen  His  meekness  and  patience 
and  forbearance,  His  moral  majesty,  all  through  those 
dying  hours.  He  had  heard  Him  pray  for  His  mur- 
derers ;  had  heard  the  prayer  of  the  dying  robber, 
and  He,  the  dying  man,  had  promised  His  fellow- 
sufferer  a  place  in  His  kingdom.  What  did  all  this 
mean  ?  Who  could  this  be  making  such  claims  in 
the  face  of  death  ?  An  impostor  would  have  been 
cowed  then,  a  fanatic  would  have  broken  down. 


1  S.  Mark  xv.  39  ;  comp.  S.  Luke  xxiii.  47. 

2  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  54.  3  S.  John  xix.  30. 


48  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

Truly  there  is  something  in  this  man's  claims.  The 
centurion  could  not  understand  as  we  do  His  real 
relation  to  the  Godhead,  God  of  God,  very  God  of 
very  God,  the  only  begotten  Son  of  the  Father — but 
he  had  heard  the  Chief  Priests  taunt  this  sufferer 
with  claiming  to  be  God's  Son,  and  the  centurion 
recognizes  that  He  is  "  a  righteous  man,"  1  moreover 
that  He  had  a  Divine  Mission.  In  some  sense  He 
claimed  to  be  God's  Son,  and  in  that  sense  in  which 
He  made  the  claim,  "  truly  this  was  the  Son  of 
God." 2  All  His  claims  were  true,  He  is  indeed  rec- 
ognized as  being  what  He  claimed  to  be. 

Ah,  blessed  Jesu,  Thou  didst  gain  the  centurion's 
faith  ;  gain  our  faith.  We  believe  in  Thee,  we  wor- 
ship Thee,  because  Thou  didst  not,  wouldst  not, 
come  down  from  the  Cross  to  manifest  Thy  Divine 
Sonship.  They  knew  not  Whom  they  crucified, 
even  the  Lord  of  glory.3  We  believe  that  Thou  art 
the  Son  of  God.  How  must  we  worship  Thee, 
knowing  Who  Thou  art.  That  Body  was  the  Body 
of  the  Eternal  Son  of  God  made  Man,  that  Soul  was 
the  Soul  of  God,  having  no  existence  apart  from  the 


1  S.  Luke  xxiii.  47. 

2  There  is  no  definite  article  in  the  Greek  of  either  S.  Matt, 
xxvii.  54  or  S.  Mark  xv.  39.      "God's  Son,"  as  in  the  margin 
of  the  Revised  Version,  would  best  express  the  undefined 
sense  of  the  centurion's  words.     The    sense  in  which  our 
Lord  had  made  the  claim,  as  equivalent  to  that  of  the  Ni- 
cene  Creed,  is  clear  from  many  passages,  e.g.,  S.  Matt.  xxvi. 
63-65  ;  S.  John  xix.  7-9 ;  v.  17-26 ;  x.  30-33. 

*  1  Cor.  ii.  8. 


THE   WORD   OF   ACKNOWLEDGMENT.       49 

Eternal  Person  Who  in  Mary's  womb  assumed  our 
nature  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "Lift 
up  your  heads,  eternal  gates,"  the  Angels  sing. 
"  Who  is  the  King  of  glory  ?  "  the  warders  of  the 
nether  world  in  wonder  reply,  "  The  Lord  "  Who 
has  proved  Himself  "  mighty  in  battle,"  tried,  as- 
saulted, but  victorious  through  all.1  We  worship 
Thee,  O  blessed  Jesu,  dead  upon  the  Cross ;  we 
worship  Thy  living  Person,  who  didst  give  Thy  life 
for  us,  Who  dost  give  Thyself  to  us  in  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  where  Thou  dost  communi- 
cate to  us  the  virtue  of  Thy  saving  Death,  the  merits 
of  Thy  Passion,  a  principle  of  undying  Life.  Think 
of  the  acknowledgment  of  the  centurion,  and  think 
how  it  was  won,  by  patience,  and  by  the  display  of 
moral  majesty  in  the  midst  of  external  pain  and 
shame.  Even  so,  if  we  would  gain  a  victory  over 
others,  it  is  not  by  self-assertion,  but  by  self-sacrifice 
that  we  are  to  conquer.  Jesus  reigns  on  the  tree. 
Through  death  He  wins  life. 

H.  Consider  God's  vindication  of  His  Son. 
"Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself."2 
The  Word  tabernacled  in  our  flesh,  that  we  might 
not  be  overcome  by  His  glory.  And  God  allowed 
His  Son  to  be  cast  out  of  His  vineyard,  and  slain  by 
evil  men.3  But  a  day  shall  come  when  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God  shall  vindicate  itself.4  On  the 
third  day  He  shall  be  "  declared  to  be  the  Son 

1  Ps.  xxiv.  2  Isa.  xlv.  15.  3  S.  Luke  xx.  13-15. 

4  Rom.  ii.  5  ;  Acts  iv.  10  ;  v.  30,  31. 
4 


50  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

of  God  with  power  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead."1  But  no  sooner  is  the  obedience  perfected 
than  the  reward  begins.  No  sooner  has  Jesus 
spoken  the  last  Word  of  Commendation  to  His 
Father  than  the  Word  of  Acknowledgment  is  spoken 
of  Him.  No  sooner  has  He  humbled  Himself  even 
to  the  death  of  the  Cross  than  God  begins  to  exalt 
Him.  Unto  Him  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every 
tongue  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord.'  The  cen- 
turion's acknowledgment  is  the  pledge  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise.  Now  at  eventide  it  is  light. 
We  need  not  wait  till  the  dawn  for  God's  mercies  to 
be  shown.  So  quickly  the  return  is  given,  so  soon 
the  reward  bestowed. 

O  blessed  Jesu,  in  Thy  example  of  faithful  obe- 
dience unto  death,  in  Thy  true  love,  Thy  victorious 
self-sacrifice,  let  me  learn  the  pattern  for  my  own 
life.  Let  the  mind  be  in  me  that  was  in  Thee,  and 
then  shall  be  true  of  me  the  promise,  that  he  that 
humble th  himself  shall  be  exalted.3 

Ill  Thus  are  we  too  to  look  for  vindication  to  the 
end  of  the  strife,  when  the  battle  is  accomplished 
and  the  victory  won.  "Using  now  the  grace  the  Head 
bestows  upon  His  members,  at  the  last  He  shall  be 
manifested  with  all  His  Saints.  Then  shall  the 
Eighteous  Man,  and  all  who  have  shared  His  right- 
eousness, stand  before  His  foes,  and  they  shall  say  : 

1  Rom.  i.  4  ;  S.  Luke  xviii.  33. 

2  Phil.  ii.  8-11  ;  Rom.  xiv.  10,  11. 

3  S.  Luke  xiv.  11. 


THE   WORD    OF   ACKNOWLEDGMENT.        51 

"  This  is  he,  whom  we  had  sometimes  in  derision  ; 
we  fools  counted  his  life  madness,  and  his  end  to  be 
without  honor  :  How  is  he  numbered  among  the 
children  of  God,  and  his  lot  is  among  the  saints !  " l 
But  then  the  vindication  is  to  be  earned  by  us  ac- 
cording to  the  same  law.  The  World  says  to  us 
"  Come  down  ; "  we  will  accept  the  Church  if  it 
manifest  earthly  power,  and  the  Christian  if  his  life 
is  frill  of  a  large  liberty.  The  World  did  not  accept 
Jesus  on  the  Cross,  and  the  World  will  not  accept 
His  mystical  Body  on  the  Cross,  or  the  individual 
Christian.  And  yet  while  crucified  in  weakness, 
Jesus  reigns  in  power,  in  His  own  person  and  in 
His  members.2  We  are  to  prove  our  Divine  sonship, 
not  by  turning  stones  into  bread  or  by  throwing  off 
restraints,  but  by  living  on  whatever  shall  be  the 
word  of  God  for  us,  by  being  able  to  do  without 
whatever  may  seem  most  necessary  in  life  if  He  with- 
hold it,  by  being  able  to  cling  to  the  Cross  through 
all  trial :  so  shall  we  be  able  to  live  in  spotless  in- 
tegrity, and  commend  our  spirits,  made  in  His 
image,  into  His  hands  at  the  last,  proved  to  be  His 
children  by  our  likeness  to  Himself.  Stripped,  if  it 
be  His  will,  of  all,  like  the  dead  Body  of  Christ 
upon  the  Cross,  deserted  by  friends,  despoiled  of 
goods,  bereft  of  honor,  our  cherished  wishes,  plans, 
hopes  frustrated  :  so  surely  shall  we  imitate  His 
example,  so  shall  Divine  virtue  be  recognized  in  us, 
which,  assaulted  and  tried,  yet  persevered  through  all 

1  Wisd.  v.  1-5.  2  2  Cor.  xiii.  4. 


52  WORDS   TO   THE   CROSS. 

these  temptations.  So  will  we  look  forward  to  the 
manifestation  of  God's  judgment  when  we  have  been 
proved  and  perfected  by  suffering.  God  divides  His 
righteous  Servant  a  portion  with  the  great,  and  He 
divides  the  spoil  with  the  strong ;  because  He  poured 
out  His  Soul  unto  death  ;  and  He  was  numbered 
with  the  transgressors ;  and  He  bare  the  sin  of 
many,  and  made  intercession  for  the  transgressors. 
So  He  makes  His  grave  with  the  powerful,  and  is 
with  the  rich  in  His  death  ;  because  He  had  done  no 
violence,  neither  was  any  deceit  in  His  mouth.1 

O  blessed  Jesu,  our  Lord  and  Master,  Thee  we 
worship,  in  Thee  we  believe,  in  Thee  we  hope,  and 
Thee  we  would  love  more  truly.  Draw  us  that  we 
may  run  after  Thee,  strengthen  us  to  imitate  Thy 
example,  that  so  we  may  be  acknowledged  by  Thee 
at  the  last. 


' '  Soul  of  Jesus,  make  me  pure, 
Flesh  of  Jesus,  be  my  cure, 
Fill  me,  O  most  precious  Blood, 
Wash  me,  O  thou  mingled  Flood  ; 
Let  Thy  Passion  banish  fear, 
And  my  prayer,  good  Jesu,  hear.*' 

Psalm  iv. 


1  Isa.  liii.  9,  12. 


GOOD   FEIDAT  MEDITATIONS 

The  Words  Spoken  by  our  Lord  from  the  Cross. 


THE  TKUE  REGAKD   OF  SINNERS. 

41  Father,  forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
— S.  LUKE  xxiii.  34. 

1.  THE  First  Word  tells  of  God's  regard  of  Sin- 
ners, the  regard  of  pity,  infinite  pity.  His  attitude 
toward  them,  yearning  over  them,  is  represented  by 
Christ  with  His  arms  stretched  out  upon  the  Cross. 
This,  you  say,  was  by  violence.  Aye,  and  here  is 
the  glory,  the  wondrous  culminating  point  of  the 
manifestation  of  Divine  love.  Man  rejects  God. 
God  bears  with  him,  His  sinful  creature.  He  de- 
stroys him  not.  He  suffers  His  attributes  to  be  out- 
raged. As  they  blindfolded  Christ ;  God  does  not 
see,  man  says.  They  mocked  Him  ;  He  can't  inter- 
fere, they  think,  He  is  tied  by  laws  ;  or  He  doesn't 
much  care.  His  power  is  defied,  His  wisdom  de- 
nied, His  love  outraged. 

Death  and  Life  meet  in  wondrous  strife,  Heaven 
and  Hell,  Love  and  Hate.  The  victory  in  the  end 


54  WOKDS    FEOM   THE   CROSS. 

remains  with  Love.  God  is  not  overcome  of  evil : 
He  overcomes  evil  with  goodness. 

In  Creation  God  loaded  man  with  benefits.  In 
Redemption,  by  a  still  greater  manifestation  of  His 
goodness  He  would  restore  him.  He  seeks  to  win 
man  back.  He  dispels  the  hard  thoughts  man  has 
entertained  of  Him. 

In  Christ  on  the  Cross  praying  for  those  who 
murdered  Him  we  have  the  revelation  of  God's 
pitying  love  for  sinners.  He  makes  excuse  for 
them  :  "They  know  not  what  they  do."  The  chief 
priests,  Judas,  knew  not  what  they  did.  Had  they 
known  he  was  the  Lord  of  Glory  they  would  not 
have  crucified  Him.1  The  soldiers  were  but  execut- 
ing their  professional  duty.  All  is  wrong,  unjust, 
cowardly,  brutal,  treacherous.  Pride,  envy,  covetous- 
ness  are  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  But  still  He  makes 
all  possible  allowance.  He  seeks  to  draw  sinners  out 
of  their  sin,  to  show  the  real  evil  of  the  sins  which 
partly  in  ignorance  they  commit.  So  He  deals  with 
us.  We  knew  not  what  we  did.  More  and  more, 
year  after  year,  we  do  know  the  real  character  of 
our  sins.  But  in  that  surrender  to  lust,  in  that 
unbelief  or  disobedience,  we  realized  not  what  we 
were  doing — the  offence  against  God,  His  interest 
in  the  matter. 

2.  As  God's  regard  of  sinners,  so  the  true  Man's 
we  see  in  Jesus.  It  is  illustrated  in  the  touching 
story  told  by  S.  John  of  our  Lord's  dealing  with 

1 1  Cor.  ii.  8  ;  Acts  iii.  17. 


THE  TKUE   REGARD    OF   SINNERS.  55 

the  woman  taken  in  adultery.  "  Neither  do  I  con- 
demn thee  :  go,  and  sin  no  more,"  is  the  word  of 
Jesus.1  Before  Him,  the  pattern  of  perfect  purity, 
the  sinner  is  abashed.  See  the  true  priestly  spirit, 
not  of  harsh  condemnation,  but  of  yearning  com- 
passion. Do  we  cherish  this  spirit  in  dealing 
with  "  unfortunates,"  in  thinking  of  "  the  criminal 
classes  ?  "  Do  we  take  into  account,  and  make  al- 
lowance for,  their  disadvantages,  the  influence  of 
heredity  and  environment  ?  There  is  a  danger  in 
our  "  scientific  philanthropy  "  of  our  becoming  hard. 
Pure  science  is  very  cruel  and  unfeeling.  It  talks 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest ;  it  may  even  go  so  far 
as  to  recommend  us  to  let  the  depraved  and  appar- 
ently hopeless  die  off,  while  we  concern  ourselves  only 
with  the  education  of  the  children,  with  preventive 
rather  than  with  remedial  work.  Christian  love 
must  mitigate  the  hard  laws  of  social  economy. 
"  Father,  forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do." 

Remember,  too,  the  lesson  with  regard  to  those 
who  offend  us.  It  is  easy  to  take  a  light  view  of  sin 
in  the  abstract ;  it  is  very  different  when  it  touches 
us. 

But  in  the  true  man  hatred  for  sin  must  always 
be  accompanied  by  love  and  pity  for  the  sinner. 

Ps.  cxxx. 

Collect,  3d  for  Good  Friday. 

Hymn,  "  Sweet  the  moments." 

1  S.  John  viii.  11. 


II. 

OF  PENITENTS. 

4  *  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  To-day  shalt  tliou  be  with  me  in 
paradise."— S.  LUKE  xxiii.  43. 

THE  Second  Word  from  the  Cross  shows  us  Christ 
our  Lord,  both  God  and  Man,  in  His  treatment  of 
Penitents.  In  the  First  Word  we  see  Him  pitying, 
praying  for,  seeking  to  convert  Sinners  ;  in  the  Sec- 
ond He  reconciles  the  Penitent. 

1.  He  has  won  a  Sinner.  The  triumphs  of  the 
Cross  begin  right  soon.  The  lawless  malefactor,  a 
hardened  criminal,  the  member  of  a  band  of  bri- 
gands, of  which  very  likely  Barabbas  was  chieftain, 
at  last  after  many  hairbreadth  escapes  has  been 
apprehended ;  caught  perhaps  red-handed,  having 
shared  in  the  murder  which  accompanied  the  insur- 
rection.1 He  has  been  condemned  to  execution, 
and  in  order  to  add  indignity  to  our  Lord's  crucifix- 
ion the  rebels  are  to  be  put  to  death  all  together. 
Truly  our  Lord  is  "  numbered  with  the  transgres- 
sors." And  He  seizes  the  opportunity.  Placing 
Himself  in  the  midst  of  those  whom  He  would  help 
He  gains  access  to  them.  He  gives  to  us  the  exam- 
ple of  sympathetic  help — not  preaching  down  to 

1  S.  Mark  xv.  7;  S.  Luke  xxiii.  19. 


OF   PENITENTS.  57 

others  from  a  pedestal  as  "  You  sinners,"  but  plac- 
ing ourselves  by  their  side  that  we  may  say  "  We 
sinners/'  and  help  them  to  rise. 

Are  we  forward  to  use  such  opportunities,  like  S. 
Paul  in  prison  laying  himself  out  to  win  Onesimus,1 
or  S.  Vincent  de  Paul  condemned  to  the  galleys 
converting  his  fellow-prisoners  ? 

The  robber  has  never  before  been  treated  with  v 
kindness.  He  had  been  an  outcast,  who  had  for- 
feited all  consideration.  And  treated  hardly  he  has 
grown  more  hard  himself ;  his  hand  against  every 
man  and  every  man's  hand  against  him.  But  some- 
thing good  there  was  in  him.  And  this  display  of 
meekness  in  Jesus  appeals  to  it,  and  draws  it  out. 
He  has  watched  Jesus  in  the  Judgment  Hall,  on  the 
Way  of  Sorrows,  and  on  the  Cross  by  his  side.  He 
is  won  by  His  unearthly  majesty,  His  unconquera- 
ble patience. 

"  The  hardness  and  the  stains  of  many  a  year 
Dropt  off  as  in  a  moment  and  disclosed 
The  nobler  features  of  the  new-born  man."  2 

He  turns  to  the  Sufferer  by  his  side  and  prays, 
"Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  Thy 
kingdom." 

2.  And  Jesus  welcomes  the  Penitent.  There  is 
nothing  much  that  he  can  show  in  the  way  of  peni- 

1  Philem.  9,  10. 

2  See  Dean  Plumptre's  remarkable  poem,  "Jesus  Bar-ab- 
bas," in  his  volume,  Lazarus  and  other  Poems. 


58  WORDS   FEOM   THE   CROSS. 

tence.  A  deed  of  repentance  he  indeed  shows  in 
his  rebuke  to  his  companion,  "Dost  not  thou  fear 
God,  seeing  we  are  in  the  same  condemnation  ?  and 
we  indeed  justly,  for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of 
our  deeds."  A  full  confession  he  cannot  make  ;  but, 
as  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor  says,  commenting  on  the 
great  commission  to  remit  and  to  retain  sins,  the 
Priest  is  a  judge  rather  of  the  person's  penitence 
than  of  his  sins.  The  commission  runs,  "  Whose  soever 
sins,"  not  Whatsoever  sins.1  And  his  faith  is  very 
imperfect.  He  acknowledges  the  Sufferer  by  his 
side  as  the  Messiah,  but  he  knows  little  either  of 
His  real  dignity  or  of  the  true  character  of  His 
kingdom.  But  Jesus  does  not  insist  on  impossible 
— practically  impossible — conditions.  He  will  not 
break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking 
flax.  The  man  does  what  he  can.  Our  Lord 
makes  the  very  most  of  all.  And  so  He  would  have 
us  act.  Don't  make  it  too  hard  for  people  to  re- 
turn. How  do  we  treat  penitents  in  the  House  of 
Mercy,  or  the  Temperance  Society,  or  persons  with 
sceptical  doubts  ?  Do  we  try  to  meet  them  half- 
way and  help  them  to  rise  to  higher,  better  things. 
Or  do  we  hold  our  skirts  and  treat  them  as  pariahs? 
So  we  are  little  likely  to  rescue  them  from  their  evil 
condition.  Sin  is  horrid,  loathsome  ;  but  out  of  the 
sin  we  must  seek  with  infinite  patience  and  tender- 
ness to  save  the  sinner. 


1  S.  John   xx.  28.     See   Jeremy   Taylor,  Dissuasive  from 
Popery,  Second  Part,  bk  L,  sect.  xi.  2. 


OF   FRIENDS.  61 


Peter  had  slunk  away ;  afraid  at  first,  and  now 
ashamed.  All  had  been,  as  He  foretold,  offended,  be- 
cause of  Him.  Those  whom  He  had  called  friends, 
not  servants,  they  had  left  Him  in  the  hands  of  His 
enemies.  S.  John  had  tripped,  but  he  had  soon  re- 
covered himself.  And  then  he  followed  right  on — 
into  the  High  Priest's  palace,  to  the  Roman  gover- 
nor's praetorium.  To  him  we  owe  the  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  examination  of  our  Lord  before  Pilate.1 
He  had  conducted  the  blessed  Mother  to  Calvary, 
His  love  was  strong  even  to  death.  He  returned 
love  for  love.  He  is  the  loved  disciple  and  the  lov- 
ing.  He  followed  from  the  Breaking  of  Bread  to 
the  Drinking  of  the  Cup  of  the  Passion ;  from  the 
Upper  Chamber  of  the  Eucharist  to  Gethsemane  and 
Gabbatha  and  Golgotha. 

2.  And  Jesus  recognizes  him  standing  by  the 
Cross.  Did  He  look  for  others  ?  He  recognizes  him. 
In  that  recognition  we  have  an  illustration  of  "the 
living  God "  acting  toward  us  as  we  act  toward 
Him ;  really  grieved  by  our  unfaithfulness,  really  ^ 
pleased  by  our  fidelity.  It  is  not  an  abstract  law 
that  we  obey,  but  a  living,  loving,  personal  God  and 
Master.  He  sees  all,  but  He  looks  for  that  which  He 
can  reward.  A  cup  of  cold  water  given  in  His  Name 
shall  not  be  without  its  reward.2  No  work  of  mercy,  "Hi 
corporal  or  spiritual,  no  self-denial,  or  resistance  to 
temptation,  shall  be  left  unnoticed.  He  watches, 
He  notes,  aye,  and  He  will  reward  openly. 

, 

1  S.  John  xviii. ,  xix.  2  S.  Matt.  x.  42. 


\ 

62  WORDS   FROM   THE   CROSS. 


John  is  rewarded  for  his  faithfulness.  Jesus 
commends  to  his  care  His  blessed  Mother.  What  a 
reward  for  faithfulness  !  What  honor  and  joy  ! 
"  The  Teacher  who  had  been  to  him  as  a  brother 
leaves  to  him  a  brother's  duty.  He  is  to  be  as  a  son 
to  the  Mother  who  is  left  desolate." 

3.  Note  the  nature  of  the  reward.  He  is  allowed  to 
do  something  for  Jesus.  He  is  called  to  show  love  in 
a  new  way.  Do  not  think  that  the  reward  for  faithful- 
ness will  be  discharge  from  further  service.  It  will 
rather  be  increased  responsibility,  wider  influence,  a 
more  serious  charge.  Favors  involve  duties  ;  privil- 
eges bring  with  them  responsibilities.  Show  love, 
^  our  Lord  says,  to  others  for  Me  ;  a  love  not  in  word  or 
in  tongue,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  Prove  your  love 
to  Me  by  loving  Mine.  Feed  My  lambs,  tend  My 
flock.  Take  this  child  and  nurse  it  for  Me,  care  for  this 
servant,  this  penitent:  I  will  give  thee  thy  reward.1 

As  we  think  of  our  Lord's  Word  addressed  to  His 
Friends,  let  us  ask  ourselves  :  (1)  Are  we  faithful 
in  our  friendships — standing  by  them  in  adversity, 
like  S.  John  ?  (2)  Do  we,  like  Jesus,  recognize  our 
friends  and  their  service — not  taking  all  for  granted  ? 
(3)  Do  we  expect  to  receive  fresh  duties  from  Him, 
and  show  ourselves  ready  to  encourage,  to  support, 
and  succor  others  ? 


Ps.  xvi. 

Collect,  2d  for  Good  Friday. 

Hymn,  "  By  the  Cross  her  station  keeping." 

1 1  S.  John  iii.  18  ;  S.  John  xxi.  15-17  ;  Ex.  ii.  9. 


IV. 
OF  SIN. 

u  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?" — S. 
MATT,  xxvii.  46. 

WE  pass  from  the  regard  of  Persons  to  that  of 
Things.  Darkness  now  enshrouds  the  Cross.  The 
sun  hides  his  face  from  that  dreadful  sight.  The 
outward  gloom  is  but  the  shadow  of  a  greater  dark- 
ness which  enveloped  the  human  Soul  of  Jesus. 
Spirits  of  darkness  crowd  round  for  a  final  assault. 
Out  of  that  darkness  came  the  exceeding  bitter  cry, 
"  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?  " 
Indeed  the  waters  are  come  in.  His  soul  is  exceed- 
ing sorrowful,  even  unto  death. 

1.  He  has  parted  from  His  Friends.  All  external 
duties  are  fulfilled.  Provision  has  been  made  for 
them.  Now  He  has  time  and  opportunity,  if  we 
may  so  say,  to  think,  at  least  to  speak,  of  Himself. 
S.  John  has  led  away  the  blessed  Mother.  Their 
presence  had  been  a  certain  stay,  even  as  He  had 
asked  His  disciples  in  the  Garden  to  watch  with 
Him,  relying  to  a  certain  extent  on  the  support  of 
their  sympathy.1  Now  He  is  left  alone.  Hitherto 
He  could  always  say,  "  Alone,  yet  not  alone,  for  the 
Father  is  with  Me." 2  But  now  the  consciousness  of 

1  S.  Matt.  xxvi.  38.  2  S.  John  xvi.  32. 


64  WOEDS    FROM   THE    CKOSS. 

the  Father's  love  seems  to  be  withdrawn,  His  Face  is 
veiled.  This  it  is  which  is  expressed  in  the  bitter 
cry,  "  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me?" 

2.  Jesus  is  now  tasting  indeed  the  bitterness  of 
death,  the  misery  of  sin.  He  is  experiencing,  so  far 
as  is  possible,  the  sinner's  doom.  For  what  is  that 
but  the  loss  of  God,  Who  is  the  soul's  true  satisfac- 
tion and  stay  ?  Man  without  God,  when  other  things 
fail,  being  either  withdrawn  or  used  up — what  is 
this  but  the  very  pain  of  Hell  ?  The  heart  of  man 
is  made  for  God,  and  nought  but  God  can  fill  it :  it 
is  ever  restless  until  it  find  its  rest  in  Him. l  Jesus 
on  the  Cross  is,  in  a  sense,  in  the  sinner's  place — by 
the  power  of  His  sympathy,  and  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  fallen  race.  His  cry  of  woe  reveals  the 
barrier  which  exists  between  sin  and  the  Holy  God, 
which  necessarily  shuts  out  the  sinner,  if  he  be  not 
won,  from  God  and  happiness.  Sin  does  separate, 
must  separate  from  God.  It  is  the  contradiction  of 
His  every  attribute.  It  is  the  wilful  withdrawing 
from  obedience  to  His  will.  Sin  is  the  act  of  mad- 
ness whereby  man  in  his  folly  parts  with  God. 
Indeed  it  is  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  to  forsake  the 
fountain  of  living  waters,  and  in  our  disobedience, 
our  pride,  sensuality,  dishonesty,  to  hew  out  for 
ourselves  cisterns,  broken  cisterns,  that  can  hold  no 
water.2  We  can  understand  something  of  the  an- 
guish of  Jesus'  soul  expressed  in  this  cry,  if  we 

1  S.  Augustine's  Confessions,  L,  1.  2  Jer.  ii.  13,  19. 


V  "\^>^         .  k-£P*"<  r* 


J^  OF   SIN.  65 


think  of  the  agony  of  losing  belief — some  of  you  have 
known  ifc  clouded.  What  then  is  left  ?  we  ask  ;  what 
to  live  for,  what  to  hold  by,  what  to  cheer  and  guide  ? 

The  cry  of  Jesus  tells  us  of  sin  chosen  and  sin 
found,  of  God  rejected  and  God  lost.  It  is,  remem- 
ber, no  arbitrary  hiding  of  His  Face  that  we  have  to 
fear.  Sin  is  a  necessary,  an  inevitable  barrier.  We 
learn  God's  regard  of  sin.  "  Your  iniquities,"  He  says, 
"have  separated  between  you  and  your  God,  and 
your  sins  have  hid  his  face  from  you,  that  he  will 
not  hear.  Therefore  wash  you,  make  you  clean  ;  put 
away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes  ; 
cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do  well  ;  seek  judgment, 
relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for 
the  widow."  l 

3.  And  man's  true  regard,  the  true  man's  regard, 
of  sin  we  learn.  He  hates  it,  dallies  not  with  it, 
but  treats  it  ever  as  an  evil  and  abominable  thing. 
God's  commandments,  he  knows,  are  not  grievous. 
All  His  statutes  are  for  our  good  always.2  Sin 
therefore  he  recognizes  as  folly. 

Thus  we  understand  something  of  the  meaning 
of  our  Lord's  cry.  In  His  Passion  He  is  a  Penitent, 
the  representative  of  fallen  man.  He  is  not  pun- 
ished as  man's  Substitute,  but  He  sorrows  as  man's 
Representative.  He  tastes  death,  and  the  penalty 
of  sin  for  every  man.3  By  His  penitence  He  would 
win  all  to  penitence.  Drinking  into  Himself,  as  it 
were,  in  the  Cup  of  the  Passion  the  tainted  draught 

1  Isa.  lix.  2  ;  i.  16,  17. 

2  1  S.   John  v.  3 ;  Deut.  vi.  24.  3  Heb.  ii.  9. 

5 


*» 


66  WOKDS   FROM   THE   CROSS. 

of  man's  polluted  life,  by  a  mighty  act  of  contrition 
He  diverts  the  course  of  human  life,  and  pours  forth 
from  Himself  in  the  Chalice  of  the  Eucharist  a 
stream  of  new,  sanctified,  and  sanctifying  life. 

He  is  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away,  by  first 
taking  on  Himself,  the  sins  of  the  world. l  Both  as 
Priest  and  Victim  He  is  the  sin-bearer. 

"  Now  the  torrents  of  His  Passion 

Deep  and  fierce  above  Him  roll ; 
And  the  rivers  of  transgression 

Overwhelm  His  Human  Soul. 
Sins  unknown,  sins  unimagined, 

Sins  by  day  and  sins  by  night, 
Sins  of  blackest,  outer  darkness 

Press  upon  His  purest  sight ; 
Sins  since  o'er  the  Eastern  portal 

First  the  cherub  waved  his  sword, 
Till  the  last  that  shall  be  written 

Ere  the  coming  of  the  Lord."  * 

As  we  contemplate  His  sorrow,  the  sorrow  of  His 
penitence,  we  will  learn  to  sorrow  for  sin  with  a 
godly  sorrow s — not  for  the  loss  of  reputation  it  may 
have  involved,  nor  for  any  temporal  consequences 
we  may  suffer,  but  because  of  the  offence  to 
Almighty  God.  Considering  His  regard  of  sin  we 
would  arm  ourselves  likewise  with  the  same  mind. 

Ps.  li. 

General  Confession. 

Hymn,  "O  Sinner,  lift  the  eye  of  faith." 

1  S.  John  i.  29  ;  1  S.  Pet.  ii.  24. 

2  Dr.  Neale's  Hymn  for  Maundy  Thursday. 

3  2  Cor.  vii.  9-11. 


V. 
OF   PAIN. 

«  I  thirst."— S.  JOHN  xix.  28. 

THESE  last  Four  Words  are  like  the  ejaculations  of 
a  dying  man.  They  are  spoken  at  shorter  intervals. 
The  first  three  were  more  deliberate,  spoken  in  the 
light.  These  are  forced  from  our  Lord,  as  it  were, 
by  the  pressure  of  His  woe.  The  Fourth  Word  is 
the  expression  of  Spiritual  Anguish,  the  Fifth  of 
Bodily  Torment.  He  was  true  Man,  really  tasting 
our  sorrows.  In  all  our  afflictions  He  was  afflicted 
— in  the  lesser  as  well  as  the  greater.  You  know 
the  feverish  thirst  which  often  accompanies  the  ap- 
proach of  death.  In  the  death  of  crucifixion  the 
thirst  would  be  peculiarly  intense,  resulting  in  part 
from  suffocation,  and  being  aggravated  by  all  our 
Lord  had  endured  during  the  past  night.  He  sym- 
pathizes with  us  in  our  Pain.  He  would  show  us 
how  to  regard  Pain,  how  to  meet  it.  From  Him  we 
would  learn  God's  view  of  Pain,  and  man's  true 
view. 

1.  It  is  not  to  be  indiscriminately  set  aside. 

When  the  procession  arrived  at  the  place  of  exe- 
cution the  soldiers  had  offered  to  our  Lord,  as  to 
the  other  prisoners,  the  stupefying  drug  of  wine 
mingled  with  myrrh,  which  was  mercifully  provided 
in  all  cases.  The  malefactors  eagerly  drank  of  it. 


68  WORDS   FROM   THE   CROSS. 

This  accounts  for  the  snatches  of  broken  sentences, 
the  wild  cries  which  they  uttered,  as  the  intoxicat- 
ing effect  in  part  wore  off.  Jesus  would  not  drink 
of  it.1  He  would  meet  all,  see  all,  bear  all  with  un- 
clouded faculties.  He  refused  the  drug.  And  here- 
in gave  an  example  to  us.  Not  only  with  regard  to 
anodynes  and  anaesthetics — certainly  it  is  not  unnec- 
essary to  warn  of  the  great  danger  and  wrong  of 
their  needless  use — but  with  regard  to  softness  and 
effeminacy  in  general.  We  seek  to  banish  all  sorrow, 
to  distract  ourselves  from  unpleasant  thoughts.  The 
penitential  remembrance  of  sin  is  thought  by  some 
morbid.  To  tales  and  sounds  of  evil  we  close  our 
eyes  and  ears.  We  will  not  think  of  them.  We  try 
to  divert  our  minds  from  painful  and  disagreeable 
facts  of  life  by  the  theatre  and  novels,  or  by  idle  busi- 
ness. 

But  Pain  has  an  intended  use.  It  is  allowed  for  a 
purpose.  Pain  is  a  preservative.  It  is  designed  as 
a  warning.  We  feel  the  burn  that  we  may  not  be 
consumed. 

In  a  world  not  constituted  as  ours  is,  Pain  and 
Suffering  might  not  be  necessary.  In  our  world  we 
can  see  it  is.  It  is  a  fact  of  experience,  whether  we 
can  explain  it  or  not,  that  suffering  has  a  refining, 
ennobling,  purifying  effect.  Without  that  check  I 
might  have  drifted  I  know  not  whither  ;  I  was 
brought  to  my  bearings  by  suffering.  Those  lines 
of  beauty  in  the  character  I  revere  would  not  have 

1  S.  Mark  xv.  23. 


OF   PAIIST.  69 


been  traced  without  that  discipline.  The  bereave- 
ments, loss  of  fortune,  failure  of  health,  thwarting 
of  plans,  desertions — all  that  seemed  so  grievous — 
we  could  not  afford  to  have  done  without  them. 
Looking  back  we  say,  "It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have 
been  in  trouble."  l  It  has  deepened  my  life,  de- 
veloped my  character.  As  the  outer  man  has  de- 
cayed, the  inner  man  has  been  renewed  ;  the  loss  of 
earthly  consolation  has  developed  a  deeper  spiritual 
thirst,  a  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.3  So 
we  learn  to  submit  to  sorrow,  to  accept  discipline. 
Lord,  Thou  canst  and  wilt  for  me  far  better  than 
for  myself  I  either  could  or  would. 

Apart  from  argument  we  recognize  suffering  as 
the  Koyal  Eoad,  the  way  the  King  passed.  His 
courtiers  would  follow  Him.  We  pray  Him  by  His 
Cross  and  Pain  to  hallow  all  suffering,  to  grant  to 
all  sufferers  to  use  it  rightly.  Like  every  means  of 
grace  it  requires  right  dispositions  for  its  profitable 
reception. 

2.  At  the  same  time  there  is  another  side  to  this 
consideration  of  suffering  suggested  by  our  Lord's 
Word  from  the  Cross.  See  the  perfect  balance  of 
His  example.  He  says,  "  I  thirst."  He  appeals  for 
help.  He  accepts  what  one  of  the  soldiers,  moved 
with  pity,  offers — a  taste  of  the  sour  wine  brought  for 
their  own  refreshment.9  Christianity  is  not  Stoicism. 


'Ps.  cxix.  67,  71. 

2  2  Cor.  iv.  16  ;  S.  Matt.  v.  6  ;  Isa.  Iv.  2. 

3  S.  Mark  xv.  36  ;  S.  John  xix.  29. 


70  WORDS   FROM   THE   CROSS. 

We  may  accept  lawful  alleviations.  We  are  bidden 
tend  the  sick  and  suffering,  minister  to  Him  in  His 
needy  members,  to  Him  in  them,  to  them  for  Him. 
Here  is  another  gain  of  suffering.  It  gives  oppor- 
tunity for  loving  deeds.  We  look  forward  to  the 
abolition  of  suffering  when  sin,  from  which  it 
springs,  shall  be  abolished.  Then  shall  God  wipe 
away  every  tear  from  every  eye.1  Meanwhile  we  do 
our  part  to  alleviate  suffering,  to  exterminate  its 
cause. 

Ps.  xli. 

Collect,  2d  Sunday  after  Easter. 

Hymn,  "  O  Sacred  Head." 

1  Rev.  xxi.  4. 


VI 
OF  WOKK. 

"It  is  finished."— S.  JOHN  xix.  30. 

1.  MAN  goeth  forth  to  his  work  and  to  his  labor 
until  the  evening.  The  night  cometh  when  no  man 
can  work.  Therefore  the  Ideal  Man  so  zealously 
set  Himself  to  accomplish  the  Work  committed  to 
Him.  I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Me 
while  it  is  day.  Now  He  could  say,  "  I  have  finished 
the  work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do."  l 

God  has  a  work  for  all,  for  each  of  us  to  do  ;  a 
work  to  do  in  our  day  and  circumstances,  with  our 
gifts  and  opportunities  ;  a  work,  whether  it  be  great 
or  little,  for  which  we  are  fitted  by  His  Wisdom, 
which  reacheth  from  one  end  to  another,  mightily 
and  sweetly  ordering  all  things.2  This  work  God 
intends  to  have  an  effect  on  us  who  do  it.  It  mat- 
ters comparatively  little  the  mark  we  make  on  the 
world  as  we  pass  through  it.  The  mark  the  world 
makes  on  us  is  of  far  greater  importance.  A  Napo- 
leon may  redistribute  the  map  of  Europe  ;  and  the 
divisions  may  be  wiped  out  like  the  castles  children 
build  on  the  sand  by  the  returning  tide.  But  the 
child  has  grown  stronger  by  its  exercise.  And  our 
character  is  developed  by  our  work.  Lines  for  good 


1  S.  John  ix.  4  ; 

xvii.  4. 

8  Wisd.  viii.  1. 

oXS*    1  . 

,     OP 

^  y, 

.JJJ  '< 

$       . 
?v       k     Q 

72  WORDS    FROM   THE   CROSS. 

or  evil  are  traced  on  our  moral  being,  of  ambition  or 
of  generous  self-sacrifice.  These  marks  we  carry 
from  stage  to  stage  of  life,  from  school  to  adult  life, 
into  the  married  state  or  the  priesthood,  aye,  into 
the  other  world. 

2.  See  the  pattern  of  our  Lord's  Work,  as  the 
true  Man,  from  first  to  last. 

a.  The  zeal  and  diligence  with  which  He  under- 
takes it.     "Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will."     "My  meat 
is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  to  accom- 
plish his  work."     So  he   enters  on   His   ministry. 
"I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with  ;  and  how  am 
I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished  !  "  1 

b.  At  the  same  time  the  discipline  by  which  His 
work  was  regulated.     He  restrains  Himself  until  the 
appointed  time,    until   He   is  thirty  years   of  age. 
And  then  He  sets  His  face  like  a  flint,  allowing  noth- 
ing to  divert  Him,  neither  the  interference  of  friends 
nor  the  dissuasion  of  enemies.2 

c.  His  work  is  accomplished  in  spite  of  every  ob- 
stacle— at  any  cost.     Work  will  cost.     In  the  sweat 
of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat — and  break — bread. 

"  Faint  and  weary  Thou  hast  sought  me, 
On  the  Cross  of  suffering  bought  me."  3 


1  Ps.  xl.  9,  10  ;  Heb.  x.  7  ;  S.  John  iv.  34 ;  S.  Luke  xii. 
50. 

3  S.  Luke  iii.  23 ;  S.  John  ii.  4 ;  S.  Mark  iii.  31-33  ;  viii. 
32,  33. 

3  S.  John  iv.  6  ;  S.  Mark  iv.  38  ;  Gen.  iii.  19. 


OF   WOEK.  73 


This  is  His  cry  : 

11 1  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the  grave, 
I  will  redeem  them  from  death : 
O  death,  I  will  be  thy  plagues, 
O  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruction : 
Repentance  shall  be  hid  from  mine  eyes."  1 


lidst  of  failure.  \    X* 
m,  but  faithful-  V 
is  ministry,  "I 


d.  His  work  is  accomplished  in  the  midst « 
It  is  not  success  that  He  sets  before  Him, 
ness.  When  He  gives  an  account  of  His  ministry, 
have  glorified  thee  on  the  earth,"  He  says.  How  ?  "I 
have  accomplished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me 
to  do.  Of  those  whom  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  lost 
none,  save  the  son  of  perdition."  None  through  any 
fault  of  Mine,  only  him  who  would  not  be  kept.2 
His  obedience  and  faithfulness  were  manifested  in 
the  midst  of  external,  seeming  failure.  The  loud 
victorious  cry,  "  It  is  finished,"  tells  of  His  obedience 
even  unto  death,  of  His  triumph  over  spiritual  foes. 
The  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  life  are  trampled  under  foot.  The  Seed  of 
the  Woman  has  bruised  the  serpent's  head  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  bruising  of  His  own  heel  in  the  com- 
bat.8 

3.  Can  we  echo  our  Lord's  word  ?  Have  we  so 
done,  are  we  so  doing,  the  work  given  to  us,  with- 
out and  within  ? 

Without,  not  self-chosen  work,  but  the  work 
marked  out  for  us — in  our  family,  in  society,  in  busi- 

1  Hos.  xiii.  14.         2S.  John  xvii.  4,  12.         3  Gen.  iii.  15. 


74  WORDS   FROM  THE   CROSS. 

ness  employments,  in  deeds  of  charity,  whether  cor- 
poral or  spiritual — patiently,  perseveringly  perform- 
ing all  such  good  works  as  God  has  prepared  that 
we  should  walk  in  ? 

Within,  fighting  out  temptations,  seeking  to  bring 
every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ;  saying,  "I  will  follow  upon  mine  enemies 
and  overtake  them,  neither  will  I  turn  again  until  I 
have  destroyed  them  ?  "  1 

So  would  we  arm  ourselves  with  the  same  mind 
that  was  in  Christ — not  to  do  the  same  things,  but 
to  do  whatever  He  appoints  for  us,  after  His  exam- 
ple and  in  His  spirit. 

Ps.  cxlii. 

Collect  in  Order  for  Visitation  of  the  Sick, 

"  Prayer  which  may  be  said  in  behalf  of  all  pres- 
ent." 

Hymn,  Battle  Song,  "  Jesus,  Master,  King  of 
Glory." 

1  2  Cor.  x.  5  ;  Ps.  xviii.  37e 


VII 

GOD'S  REGARD  OF  MAN  AND  MAN'S  OF 
GOD. 

u  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." — S.  LUKE 
xxiii.  46. 

WE  have  considered  God's  view  and  man's  true 
view,  the  true  Man's  view,  of  Sinners,  Penitents, 
Friends,  of  Sin,  of  Pain,  of  Work.  There  is  not 
much  else  to  view — saving  one  another.  And  this 
is  what  we  have  put  before  us,  expressed  in  the  last 
Word  from  the  Cross — God's  view  of  man  and  man's 
view  of  God. 

1.  God  and  man  are  at  last  at  one  again.  The 
At-one-ment  is  effected.  God  has  won  man  back 
to  Himself.  The  estrangement  was  on  man's  side. 
God  was  yearning  over  His  fallen  creature,  His 
prodigal  son.  He  devised  means  that  His  ban- 
ished should  not  be  expelled  from  Him.1  "  God  so 
loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  Only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  should  have  eternal  life.3  The  exhibition 
of  God's  love  in  the  Incarnation  and  the  Passion  has 
drawn  man  with  the  cords  of  a  man,  with  the  bands 
of  love,  has  softened  man's  heart.3 

1  2  Sam.  xiv.  14.          2  S.  John  iii.  16.  3  Hos.  xi.  4. 


76  WOKDS   FKOM   THE   CEOSS. 

Moreover,  redemption  from  the  power  of  evil,  from 
the  bondage  of  sin,  has  been  effected.  The  bands 
are  snapped  ;  the  foes  trodden  down.  Jesus  has 
made  peace  by  the  blood  of  His  Cross.1  So  in  the 
person  of  the  Eepresentative  Man,  the  Second  Adam, 
redeemed  Humanity  utters  this  word,  "  Father,  into 
Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 

2.  And  God  accepts  man,  his  obedience  proved, 
in  this  his  ^Representative.  "  This,"  he  says,  "  is  My 
beloved  Son,  in  Whom  I  am  indeed  well  pleased."  2 
God  delights  in  this  spotless  offering  of  Christ,  per- 
fected through  suffering  ;  not  in  the  suffering,  but 
in  the  love  which  was  willing  to  suffer,  in  the  per- 
fection which  the  discipline  of  suffering  has  brought 
about.3  Pleading  our  oneness  with  Him,  our  Head 
and  Leader,  we  pray  : 

"  Look,  Father,  look  on  His  anointed  Face, 
And  only  look  on  us  as  found  in  Him  ; 

Look  not  on  our  misusings  of  Thy  grace, 
Our  prayer  so  languid  and  our  faith  so  dim  ; 

For  lo,  between  our  sins  and  their  reward 
We  set  the  Passion  of  Thy  Son  our  Lord. "  * 

So  does  God  regard  man  in  Christ,  reconciled  by 
Him,  "  accepted  in  the  Beloved."  He  has  made  rec- 
onciliation for  iniquity,  made  an  end  of  sin,  brought 
in  "  everlasting  righteousness."  6 

1  Col.  i.  20.  2  S.  Matt.  iii.  17.  3  Heb.  ii.  10. 

4 Dr.  Bright's  Eucharistic  Hymn,   "And  now,  O  Father, 
mindful  of  the  love." 
5  Eph.  i.  6 ;  Dan.  ix.  24. 


GOD'S   REGARD   OP   MAN.  77 

4 '  For  a  small  moment  have  I  forsaken  thee  ; 
But  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather  thee. 
In  a  little  wrath  I  hid  my  face  from  thee  for  a  moment ; 
But  with  everlasting  kindness  will  I  have  mercy  on  thee, 
Saith  the  Lord  thy  Redeemer."  l 

3.  Man's  regard  of  God,  ours,  must  correspond 
with  this.  "  My  Beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  His." 2 
Man  can  again  call  God  his  Father,  for  he  is  ready 
to  surrender  himself  in  trustful,  loving  obedience  as 
His  son.  Can  we  ?  For  this  we  keep  Good  Friday. 
Without  this  Good  Friday  would  be  vain.  It  would 
be  no  Good  Friday  for  us.  We  will  then  make  this 
Word  of  Christ's  our  own.  If  we  cannot  do  so  now, 
we  will  fight  it  out,  and  put  away  whatever  hinders. 
And  then  in  this  trustful  surrender  we  will  be  at 
peace. 

Come  what  may,  joy  or  sorrow,  success  or  fail- 
ure, sickness  or  health,  life  or  death — "  Into  Thy 
Hands  I  commend  my  spirit."  I  fled  from  Thee  as 
a  sinner  ;  I  commend  myself  to  Thee  as  a  penitent. 
"I  commend  my  spirit" — my  inmost  being  ;  when 
I  have  nothing  else  to  commend,  when  all  else  is 
stripped  from  me — money,  friends,  earthly  goods. 
Naked  came  I  out  of  my  mother's  womb,  and  naked 
return  I  to  my  Father's  hands.  Only  I  return  con- 
scious. What  awaits  me  I  know  not,  care  not ; 
the  employment  of  the  intermediate  state,  the  nat- 
ure of  the  purification  through  which  I  hope  there 

1 1»a.  liv.  7,  8.  2  Cant.  ii.  16. 


78  WORDS   FKOM   THE   CROSS. 

to  be  perfected  for  the  fulness  of  His  joy — I  know 
not  and  care  not.  It  is  my  Father  Who  will  deal 
with  me.  "  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit/' 

Ps.  xxxi.  1-6. 

Collect,  1st  for  Good  Friday. 

Hymn,  "  The  sun  is  sinking  fast." 


